How can you tell the gender of a fish?

Question

I really want to know. I think my fish laid eggs and I don't know for sure. I was cleaning the tank when it happened. I was already dumping the water out. They looked like eggs but I'm not positive.

Answer 1

It all depends on the fish.

Some are sexed by size (as with cories), some by color and finnage (as with bettas), some by secondary characteristics (like the bristles on bristle nosed plecos). Many cichlids have color variations between the sexes and the males' color will intensify when its ready to spawn. With guppies it's pretty easy because the females have the gravid spot and the males have the gonopodium, but with some fish it's almost impossible to tell. With a lot of mouthbrooding cichlids the only way to tell is by looking at their vents and mouths. Check out the link below.

http://www.fishhead.com/articles/ventsex...

Answer 2

What kind of fish do you have? In many cases, the male is more colorful, a bit longer, and a bit thinner. Certain fish like Goldfish, however, are nearly impossible to sex until they are spawning.

Soop Nazi

EDIT: Only certain fish like Flowerhorns, Geophagus, and Midas Cichlids have the bumps on their heads if they are males. VERY few fish display this.

Answer 3

depends on the species. many can be determined by size, coloration,finnage,markings,behavioiurs etc..

So it does matter on the type.

Generallly....GENERALLY egg layers...females tend to be alot wider than males. But again it does depend on the species you are dealing with.

Answer 4

the boys have a bump on there head