divide the sexes

[jds69wet]

how can i tell the male from the female bumble bee yollow and black one is almost black and the other still looks good

[whitetigers]

This fish should only be kept with other aggressive cichlids. The coloration for adult, dominant males is near black and appear almost totally black when breeding. There are a variety of geographic variants of this fish; some males in breeding dress show several bright blue sparkles on their flanks which can be very pretty. One thing the aquarist will notice with these fish is that they change color rapidly! Interestingly, males can change color to look almost exactly like the females and, in fact, females can quickly change color to a murky black.

[whitetigers]

Dominate/breeding males turn a dark bluish black or brownish black while sub dominant males and females stay yellow with black/brown stripes. Juveniles are impossible to sex, all looking like females. Both sexes have egg spots.