male or female

[Ross Quarles]

I have a Labidochromis caerlus that I originally bought as a female but it turned darker so I thought it was a male. I can't see an egg spot on it, but it is much darker than the 3 other females I have. Do all males have an egg spot. I tried to post a picture of it but I can't figure out how to.

[jonah]

Color and eggspots mean nothing when sexing Labs. I can't even see anything that looks like an actual eggspot on my Labs. Neither does fin color. I have two females that have the black fins normally associated with males and they've both held in the past 2 months. I did have a dominant male that displayed a black throat with jet black fins, but he was killed 6 months ago by a cobalt I used to have.

I think the only sure way of sexing is venting or actually seeing them spawn.