How do I tell Male from Female?

[YZFR1rider]

I am just looking for info on how to tell the male discus from the female discus any info is appreciated.

Matt

[Ardan]

The only real way is to wait until they lay eggs and they hatch. Then you know you have a male and female. With discus, there really isn't any other sure way.

hth

[ReeferKimberly]

shortest answer..
you don't, they do
kim :-*

[SLY]

if they do u don't see 2 female bowing and laying together..or even 2 males courting..sex is complicated u know ;D

[bmrin1]

Look under the skirts :crazy:

[YZFR1rider]

LoL that is a good one Brian ::)

[discuskin]

hi guys!
Is the any ways to make an good guess of the sex? ;D

kin

[darcy]

I 've tried guessing..... 9x out of 10 I'm wrong!!! Now I don't even bother to guess anymore. I just watch the fish to see who's laying eggs and who's trying to fertilize. I've already had two females that I thought were a pair. One would lay eggs the other looked like it was making fertilizing runs. Great I thought another pair!!!! Sure blew my mind when the "male" started laying eggs also!!!!!

Back to the orgy tank for those two!
Darcy

[Diceman]

I hate it when that happens. :crazy: I had the same problem with my first group of discus. :P

[BlueBull]

err.....i know i am new to Discus and all that, but.....i never knew they have homosexual Discus too........

[discuskin]

;D seems i one would get "homo-discus" at least once.

kin

[Fisheyes]

Blubull ;D :whip:
I have news for you .
Every type of animals has homosexuals including -us or should that be them.
Fisheyes

[jimmybui]

I always thought the male get extended fins at 1 year of age or a lump on their head,as the male are usu. bigger in size

[M0oN]

It's going to be impossible to do if you've never seen your own discus pair off before even after that it's still pretty damn hard...definately not any distinguishing marks between the two that are easy to describe...some people can just tell with experience...

[moonie]

so yesterday i was at one of my lfs's and the fish expert guy told me the males have completely smooth straight ventral fins while the females are notched. when i couldnt find one pair of smooth ventrals amongst all the 2", 4" and 6" discus there he proclaimed them all female. so i went home and stared at my discus and lo! they must be female too. has anyone heard this theory before?
i'm suspicious, but don't have a proven male to check out his ventral fins.

[Wolf_Mek]

I have a book on discus that claims that the ventrals are the way to sex them... but, from the pictures of mated pairs I've seen, it's bogus.

[oodi]

moonie,

That's a new one on me! If you can get a good look at extended breeding tubes, the female's will be thick and cylindrical, where the male's is thinner and conical in shape. Kinda like the = and the > only both pointed downward.

Judi
:)

[Barb Newell]

This thread has some good info.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=11412;st art=15

Barb

[jaydoc]

Barb, I am curious, did you ever find out what sex your BD ( or was it a ocean green) is in the thread you mentioned?
Cary the lesser

[Barb Newell]

Hi, the fish in the first pic is a male (pics b11 and 11d) - page 2

The fish in pic (Aug 15jl2)- page 3 "Julie" ended up being a male as well. She/he died :'( :'( March 9th. Before she/he died, I put a male then female in there, Julie spawned with the other female I put in and Julie didn't lay eggs so... I'm assuming male anyway.

Barb

[moonie]

wow, thanks for the great info, found that thread especially helpful.
now if i can get my discus to hold still long enough for me to draw lines
on the tank i'll try to figure 'em out :)

[altaaf]

hi,

i know a breeder who can tell HIS discus apart by the different dorsal finnage on his fish. males have a little trail and females don't. works for him, and me! 8) :-* :-X

[Sean Buehrle]

hers a pic showing what alltaf is talking about, but it is not always the case with discus. look at the trailer coming off this pigeons dorsal fin its about 1.5 inches long. he is a male but i have seen females with the same thing.

[Sean Buehrle]

this is a female red turq with the same thing on its dorsal

[Jean]

Yep Sean!

I've seen that too; not a conclusive sign for sure!
I like Judi's method the best. Confirmation on fertility of either sex, only comes with wigglers. ;D

Jean ;D 8)

[kaceyo]

Wayne Ng did an article about sexing discus. I think you can find it on Sly's "DiscusRealms" forum. Kacey

[Howie_W]

I think the only confirming physical trait is the outward characteristics of the Ovipositor, viewed properly by holding the fish turned upside dowm; The males will tend to be shorted and conical shaped, with the area surrounding it being round. The female's is longer, larger and looking like a stump, the area area around it is less round, and more oval shaped.

Ultimately once you've got fry...then you know! :)

Howie

[mikeos]

I have a method that is 100% guarenteed to get the gender of any Discus

Rules:-

1. If it lays eggs its female...every time, never had an exception yet ;D

2. If the eggs are fertile then the other one is definately male...again I have always found this to be totaly reliable 8)

3. If the eggs are infertile the other may still be male, just immature or maybe 2 females in which case see rule 1.

[oodi]

LOL Mike...

I like your rules!!!

Judi
:)

[Tito]

So am I wrong for thinking that Discus should be able to be vented?

This is how we can tell male from females in African Cichlids.