Sexing Nannacara anomala

[strohl71]

Can I please ask how to best determine the sex Nannacara anomala? I recently purchased a couple from a LFS and was told that they were a M/F pair. However I now find myself wondering. One is definitely bigger than the other and occasionally chases the smaller but this does not really verify anything. Any advice?

 

[mummymonkey]

Nannacara anomala is fairly easy to sex from an early age.
With young fish, the males are noticeably larger and start to develop longer rear dorsal and anal fins early. The blue colouration of the males and the pattern along the top of their dorsal fin is also easily seen even from 2cm size fish.
I have a tank of juveniles so I'll post a picture tomorrow.

 

[strohl71]

Thank you MummyMonkey. I would appreciate the pics. Great name by the way.

 

[mummymonkey]

Red arrows are males, blue for females.
These fish are 2-3cm size and about 16 weeks old.

 

[Mike Wise]

You have a very nice color morph there. I really like the blue color of the anal fin.

 

[aspen]

strohl71, when you see the female showing any breeding behaviour, you cannot mistake the heavy black grid on the sides of her. she will get quite agressive when in this mode, make sure the tank is an adequete size and has hiding spots. my exp with these is, that females are not as agressive as males till it's 'breeding season'. then she'll beat the heck out of him if she wants to.

they will breed quite easily in somewhat harder, higher ph water as well. when they're ready they won't wait for you, regardless of who's in the tank or what the water parms are. my breeding female made 2 other nannacara's jump out in about 10 minutes.

rick

 

[strohl71]

Thanks for all of the great information and the photo. With this information, I now think that I do, in fact, have a M/F pair.