fin diference between male and female

[brady]

Probably this question has been asked and answered forever but is there a difference between male and female anal and the dorsal
fins? I have always thought that the males fins had streamers and formed a somewhat of a circle with the tail while
The female's was somewhat rounded and fell short of a circle with the tale.
The reason I ask is after doing a 100% W/C TODAY because I'm leaving tomorrow on a 2-1/2 week vacation
to Maui a bss who I always thought was a male "appeared' to be laying eggs but as soon as he did all the
other fish were right there eating them.
His ovipositor was huge and blunt and had not seen anything like this before.
Thoughts?
Thank you
Jay

[brady]

Anybody with an answer?
Would really appreciate it.
Thank you
Jay

[SNap0283]

You can not tell by the fins. If you are looking at brothers and sisters then in general yes the male will have longer streamers and be more rounded, but genetic differences make far more difference here.

[Second Hand Pat]

The sure fire way to tell the genders apart is by the breeding tube. Females are larger with a squared off end and males are smaller with a pointy end. Since I mostly keep wild discus I have found some general trends for gender differences. Males tend to be wider across the nose when looking at the fish head on. Females are more delicate looking in the face area. Wild brown females tend to be a bit high-boded and more red based. Generally wild males are larger then wild females. I also find there are gender based behaviors in pecking order and breeding situations. Not sure if this applies to domestics however.
Pat