How to Determine Oscar Gender

[fshfan]

Sadly, my Tiger oscar's mate passed away... How do I go about finding a new mate for Teeoh? not sure whether I have the male or female left? Teeoh was carrying the fry in it's mouth if that is a key indicator for anyone? We were unaware that they were spawning...never did see any eggs in the tank. There is a large slate rock for them Not sure if Teeoh mouthed the eggs right away as there is a 8" choc pleco in there also (maybe felt it was a threat to the eggs?) At any rate I saw Teeoh "spit" the fry out but they only survived 2 days....think the pleco got them? They were quite small still at a "wriggle" stage.

All that said...how do I know if Teeoh is mom or dad and how do I go about finding another oscar that would be an appropriate mate? We already have a 12" T.O. in another tank...not sure what sex "Oscar" is either...He was given to me and is said to be approx 7yr old...considerably more developed (thicker) than Teeoh would their size difference create a problem with putting them together?

Thanks for any advice:D

[Fuzzy]

If you can post pictures of them, we might be able to tell. There is no 100% means other than venting, and I don't recomend venting a large Oscar. Head shape and fin size and shape are a couple of the signs. Perhaps stilllearing, or Mark or cichlidfish might be able to hazard a guess as well.

[Mark Stone]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Fuzzy [/i]
[b]If you can post pictures of them, we might be able to tell. There is no 100% means other than venting, and I don't recomend venting a large Oscar. Head shape and fin size and shape are a couple of the signs. Perhaps stilllearing, or Mark or cichlidfish might be able to hazard a guess as well. [/b][/quote] Well, venting is the way to go here -- if you are very patient, you can sit next to the aquarium and wait for Teeoh to flash you.

Fins, body and head shape, and size are only accurate to determine gender when you are absolutely certain that Oscars are raised with the same water conditions, disease history, and food. So, these methods are not accurate when 1.) you are trying to sex a single specimen, and 2.) you don't know the history of the Oscars in question. If they have the same disease history, water conditions, food, etc. then males are larger, more colorful, have longer flowing fins with a more pointed dorsal. Occasionally in the wild, Male Oscars have a line of eyespots extending from the Caudal spot up under the Dorsal fins; however this does not occur in [i]all[/i] males and has not been seen in aquarium or farm bred males.

Oscars are not mouthbrooders, so it's interesting that Teeoh was keeping fry in his/her mouth. Occasionally (not always) Oscars eat their offspring, maybe this is what was happening --

--Mark:cool:

[Mark Stone]

Male

[Mark Stone]

Female -- These pics are from Stilllearnin I believe, they are in the galleries here at CichlidFISH