# Sexing red empress



## Jeebz (Sep 28, 2011)

I bought 4 red empress cichlids about 6 months ago. 2 males and 2 females. They were just over an inch when I got them. Males were all colored up with blue heads and orange/yellow bodies. The females were silver with a couple black lines, until tonight. My supposed females colored up in the matter of hours. Tried researching a bit and couldn't find any info on it. Do I have late blooming males or freak females?


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## jdm_03 (Apr 22, 2010)

Subdominant males will not show color because of aggression and will keep their juvenile/female coloring until an opportunity presents itself such as the dominant male being removed from tank...


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## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

did you move items in your tank or add/remove and fish. Like jdm said there will be one dominent male with the most colour if that fish is moved the the next in line will colour up and so on and so on. Thats why fish stores love to sell the dominent male because there is alway another ready to step up and colour up.


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## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

oh ya and if it turns out you have 3 males and 1female i think things could get ugly. I have 3 females to 1male and it seems to work well they spawn like crazy


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## MOLOTO (Jun 8, 2010)

If you are unsure if the sexes, try looking at their dorsal and anal fins. Males have sharp, pointed fins while females have round ones. Another more reliable way is venting them.


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## Jeebz (Sep 28, 2011)

Thanks for the info everybody. May be a stupid question but I'm new to cichlids. What is venting?


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## MOLOTO (Jun 8, 2010)

There is no such thing as a stupid question  To vent a fish, turn the fish upside down and look at the ventral area, right in front of the anal fin. If it is a male, the anus and the vent will be the same size. It will look something like "oo". On the other hand, females will have a"oO" pattern, with the hole closer to the anal fin being larger than the anus. Here's a good link to check out:
Malawi Cichlids, Malawi Species Profiles, African Cichlids, Lake Malawi, Malawi Forum, Tanks, Articles, Books, Videos


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