AboutRon Coleman Expertise I am an expert on cichlid fishes, particularly New World cichlids. My broader expertise includes the behavior, ecology and reproduction of fishes in general. (I am NOT an expert on Goldfish). Please do not use abbreviations, such as "my GT has a swollen eye" because I don't know what a "GT" is. The more clearly you can explain your question, the better chance I have of understanding what it is that you seek. I keep fishes both as a scientist and as a hobbyist and I currently maintain about 140 aquariums.
Experience I am an Assistant Professor at the California State University, Sacramento in the Department of Biological Sciences, and I run a website, called the Cichlid Research Home Page . I also write for many popular aquarist magazines, and I am editor of Cichlid News magazine. I am a scientist and I spend my time teaching fish biology, ecology, behavior and evolution and doing research on the reproductive biology of fishes, particularly cichlids. I do research in the laboratory and in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Mexico. My main interest is understanding the evolution of parental care in fishes. I am interested in encouraging greater public awareness, understanding and participation in science.
Publications Cichlid News, Tropical Fish Hobbyist, Freshwater and Marine Aquarium, Science, Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, Copeia, Canadian Journal of Zoology, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, AUK, Environmental Biology of Fishes
Answer Hi Selvaguru,
Unfortunately you cannot tell the sex of a flowerhorn, particularly a young one just by looking at it in a photo. This is for two reasons: first, they aren't necessarily sexually dimorphic at that stage. Second, depending on which species where used to make the flowerhorn (flowerhorns are manmade fish), their sex may not even be determined by that size. For example, one of the species used in flowerhorns is the midas cichlid and with midas cichlids sex is determined socially, i.e., the kids grow up to a certain size and only then do they "decide" which sex to become (it is not genetically determined like it is in humans).
-- Ron
rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>
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