awomack

Hi all I'm new here,

I just added a New Guinea Red Rainbowfish to my tank, after doing a little research it has come to my attention that I am unaware of the sex of my fish. It seams that the perameters are rather clear, this is what i'm told.
MALES - higher back, very red
FEMALE - silver, no red at all !!

The problem i'm having is that my fish seems to have both qualities. It has a straight body with no high back and is mostly a silver gold color but the fins have some red to them. I'm wondering if the back becomes more rounded in a male with age. Also it had more of a red burgundy color in the store and I was wondering if these fish loose some of their color due to stress as the red tailed sharks seem to do.

I appreciate any information that you all could share.
Thank You

TFA101

First off, Welcome to Fishlore

"it" must be young. rainbows seem to become sexually mature at a few months, i'm guessing around 2-4 months. Yours must be youg and considerably small. These guys row to about 6" in total and sligtly small in females. Post some pictures and I might be able to help from their

capekate

Hello Awomack
and welcome to fishlore!
Rainbows do not show that characteristic hump back til they mature. Most rainbows sold are still very young. It will take awhile for them to color up as well. So you may have some time before you are able to tell the gender.
It can well be up to 3-4 months before they start showing that hump. The females are very slender, almost skinny looking and the males are more rounder if that helps you out for now. these are great schooling fish and a lot of fun to have in a tank. Ive had a lot of different species from time to time in my community tank. Right now I only have three rainbows at the moment.

We would love to see photos!

awomack

Thanks ya'll, normally when I buy a fish I know something about them before hand, but this one I just saw in the store and grabbed. It sure will be interesting to see this develope and find out if our new "baby".....Clair is in fact a girl! I will try to post some pics soon. Thanks again.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!! I cant wait for pice either we adore all the pics ppl post here

awomack

My daughter snapped a pic real quick, here it is.........

Attached Images

clair4.JPG (437.1 KB, 15 views)

Shawnie

NICE looking fish!! Ty awomack's daughter!

TFA101

Clair has the traits of both a juvenile male and mature female. This is gonna be tough

capekate

Hello
Nice photo... I believe that is a male red. It is very rounded and the females are much slimmer.