Chocolate Cichlid

Wow. Nice.

Roger, do you know the sex of this fish? I had thought with its fins so long it was for sure a boy, same as I thought about my larger one, but now the larger one is developing a small hump between his eyes. Do you know offhand what indicates the sex of the chocolates?

Pudry. Peaceful fish?

Very nice looking fish!!
Great color!!!!

...

Super nice fish. Graceful colorfull awesome

Thanks everyone.

Angel, they are pretty much like Oscars.
Very difficult to sex without venting.

I am not sure if it is a male or female.

I've got two large ones. Think I'll try venting. Always meant to try that.

Man. I really like these.

Angel, if you have an extra hand, get some good pictures of the vents. A lot of people need help with that, and I would be happy to have some good pictures to use.

I'll give it a try. My hands are very small and the fish are both much bigger so it might not happen but I may be able to get some help. Tomorrow is the day--just got home from work, so I'll leave them alone this late at night.

Those are really pretty fish!

Thanks, it has grown into an exceptional fish.

Not nearly as pretty when young.

Once these fish are adults the males will have more of a hump in the head fins mean nothing. The larger square head and extra large size is male.

How big is the fish in the photo? Because to me I would say it's a female but it depends on the size.

Thoes are some great photos of a awesome fish. It reminds my of my true parrot but in red .

It is about 8 1/2 inches.

Thanks, I really enjoy the picture taking.

does the black on his its body get darker from time to time?

Yes his colors all change at times.
Depending on moods.

These shots were taken with a home built bounce box.
It adds quite a bit of lighting effect from the top of the tank.

I have a new camera with 7 lenses coming soon hopefully.
It is ordered, you guys know how this hurry up and wait shipping goes.
It is a Father' Day gift.
Nikon D90, I am really hoping it will increase the quality of my pics.
Once I learn how to use all the bells and whistles on it.
These were taken with a Nikon D40, with a bounce box and and a remote switch.
No flash directly at the glass.
Using a 55x200mm lens.

I need to figure out your photo contest. I would love to place some entries in it.

Easy. They call for the pics a few days before the start of every month. You just email your pics to the email address that they give and then if yours gets selected, you will be part of the contest!

Vent pics
Larger fish. We'll call "her" fish 1:


Smaller fish(but younger, to be fair) we'll call "him" fish 2:


In no way am I sure of these sexes being correct, it's just a guess based on the hole being larger in the first one and the vent seeming to stick out a little and not seem larger in the second one, but I had read that until they lay eggs the vent may not be larger in the female and the male has roughly the same size vent as anal opening but may be V shaped. I don't know if this qualifies as a V. What do y'all say?

Oh, and they weren't any too happy about this! haha
But thus ends my first venting experiment. :)

I would say that you have it right. the shaping of the second fish is not the round shape that you attribute to the female "vent".

The chocolates are one of my very favorite fish!! Have spawned them a few times, though lost my big male and window shopped looking for a young male, waiting for them to grow out takes a act of patience (don't always have).

Have a pic somewhere of a big male I'll try to find if your interested, they definitely get a huge hump as they age, the broader the face the higher chance its a male by glance, secondly have found the females for about the first year have a much more sloped/pointy type face. just my 2 cents on experience over the last 4/5 years

The big females get amazing finnage, my older female has been sporting her spawning colors LOL the young male isn't quite old enough. But all around a super nice fish to keep, they get big, not quite as much mess as a oscar, very interactive with their humans, beggars!!, and fairly easy to keep one other thing about them that I really like is you have a few more options for tankmates versus some of the other larger fish