Help Sexing Convicts

[willbob0321]

I know female Convicts are supposed to have orange coloration on their bellies and male Convicts tend to have longer fins and such, but I still can't seem to tell if I've got a male or a female. Could anyone who has kept Convicts before help me out??

Also.. I would like to go out and pick up another Convict in the near future so I could breed them. Anyone have any luck breeding black w/ pink Convicts? I know it can be done, but I'm not too sure which route I'd like to take. Any helpful hints or advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[willbob0321]

Other times the black stripes are less aparent and it looks like there might be a little orange coloration near his outline..

[willbob0321]

annnd here's a picture of him after he got to one of my crabs.. not really relavent to my whole sexing question, but I thought it'd be fun to post it anyways. I absolutly love this fish.. never a dull moment w/ him in the tank thats for sure!:D

[crazyfishlady]

Both male.

[firemouthman198]

i would say its male as well(i believe he's only askin about one fish cfl:) ) just my 2 cents. convicts are generally easy to sex, when teh females are ready to breed they will have a pronounced peach/pink area on their abdomen. Hopes this helps. ! good luck

[willbob0321]

Thanks for the help cfl & firemouth. So now that we've decided he's a male I guess I'll have to go out and get him some lady friends asap haha :wink:

I think I might go out and pick up a pink/albino female and a black female. I cant decide which one I'd like to try and breed w/ him so I guess I'll just let him decide..
Does anyone think a 20G tank would be large enough for a pair of convicts and their fry?? thats all I can get ahold of at the moment.

[reptileguy2727]

my black male and pink female did fine in a 20H. i moved them just to let the fry grow up with no worries of the adults starting a new batch and killing the older ones. 20 is fine. what made you uncertain of the sex? i would say go ahead and try him with a pink. some people actually pop out the calicos when they cross a black and a pink (they also get black and pinks, but you could get some calicoes). all mine so far are looking like blacks.

[autoxevo]

20 is fine. I've got two pair in 20L's, pink and black. My plan is to cross their fry if I can get a few choice specimens from each pair. I'm hoping for either calicos, or pinko's with black bars! probably wont happen but I can cross my fingers right?

[willbob0321]

I can't find any decent sized pink convicts in my area. my black con is about 3" right now and the only pinks I've come across are about 1.5" tops. can you determine the sex of these lil guys at that size and if so what am I looking for if I want a female pink??

[reptileguy2727]

i got my pink female at just under an inch. as soon as the females show the colors (which mine was at that size) they are ready to breed. just look for the metallic orange bellies.