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We have two 8" green oscars. We have had them since they were 2". They have always been very close, constantly in physical contact with one another. They seem to go through the mating ritual but we have not had any eggs yet. The tank should be at a good temp, they have a nice niche they like, etc. We have not been able to definately sex them. One looks as though she has an ovipostor but we don't see much on the other one. What does a male look like? is it similar to the female? Could they both be female? My husband wants to get rid of them and get a bunch of little ones to ensure breeding couples but I like these fish too much. Although I don't want them to be frustrated old maids.

Males is typically smaller.Cichlidfish will answer your question

The one we thought of as the male is a little smaller although less aggressive toward mating.I don't see any special spots that were described, the colorings are about the same but the female seems to have a rounder head. We turned up the heater to about 85 as described in a few articles but they actually seemed to calm down after that? This is all new to me. I only saw tanks with goldfish or guppies. Hardly anything to even look at. These fish just draw my attention.

Hi pattoo,

Do a search on this BBS I remember writing quite a lot on here on sexing and triggering spawning.(Search link is at the top on the right). The MALE has a more ROUNDED head, a bigger head. The Female's head is narrower/thinner. The female is more aggressive than the male towards humans, ie if she's started to clean rocks etc....it will probably be the female who'd be first to attack you for sticking your hand in the tank. Towards other fish, the male is usually more aggressive. What kind of behaviour have you observed? tail slapping, tail quivering, lip-locks, slate cleaning?...

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Joe
www.cichlidfish.com

I've observed quivering, tail flapping, lip locking, & gill showing (?). The one with the rounder head was the one I thought to be female. This is the bigger of the fish and the one to seem more interested in the lip locking and stuff. This is also the one doing most of the rock moving. Neither one of them are aggressive toward me, I hand feed them. I believe I read almost everything post on the BBS and I cannot tell the difference with spots, shape or anything like that. I was more wondering what a male's genitalia looks like. I've seen pictures and read descriptions of females but not males. Thanks

Hi Pattoo,

They look the same other than the female's is bigger/wider, more oval, I have some video tape of my male and female spawning I've just had too many things to do and never got around to getting it from video tape to the computer etc....on top of all that, the few minutes of free time have lately been taken up by my TV and news websites watching the Election fiasco
Tail slapping is a very good sign of a pair. Do you ever see them "push" each mouth on mouth without really biting? and while they do this they make that "big" face by flaring the gills. The male is usually larger if they're both about the same age and grew up in similar environment. If you've read the rest of the stuff i posted on the BBS I guess you know how to try to trigger spawning by the temp raising stuff etc...you might wanna try to do that...

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Joe
www.cichlidfish.com