Ok now sounds like a silly question i know but im only new to this and well...i was wondering how do i tell if i have boys or girls. I have three Oscars, a black one with red lines on him, and two red ones....now how do i tell boys and girls.....or would it be easier to call them Larry Moe and Curly and be done with it?LOL.............

Calling them Larry Curley and Moe will be lots easier!!!

unfortunetly oscar a monomorphic so you cant tell which is which. the only sure way to sex them is to watch them lay and fertilize the eggs.....

Nickisue your a platinum boarder now!!! Congrats!

Anyways, monomorphic means externally the sexes are virtually indistinguishable. However, oscars that are more aggressive tend to be the males.


By the way, if it lays eggs, its a female

Thanks Art. I just noticed!

Hmmmmm I knew it would of been hard to tell but it cant hurt to ask......thanks guys

there is a myth on how to distinguish oscar sexes. but
i haven't tried to do it. it will stress your fishes.

i was told by the breeder in my place, if you have a
semi-adult oscar (5 to 6 inches), hold it and slightly
press the abdomen, if the hole shows an Oo, its a female,
it the hole shows an oo, its a male.

the danger here is that you put your fishes into a lot of
stress that could lead into sickness. so its up to you to
try or not.

me i don't give a #@%m to check.....

Hmmmmmmmm lol dont blame you for not trying....great info but i dont think ill be doing that ill just sit tight and wait to see what happens with them as they get bigger and yeah im not worried if they are all boys or all girls i was just interested to know if there was a way, so thanks heaps darl

Cheers Amanda

you're welcome.
just in case you decided to check using that method,
please keep us posted. in case i decided to do that
manual checking, i will post it also here. i am tempted
to do so because i have a new juvenile who grabbed my two
other small oscar for dinner. he/she is so greedy and grows
5 inches for two months (less than 2 inches before).

venting is a proceedure that in theory will tell you the sex of your oscar or any fish. the problem is that even very experienced people who vent fish often have a difficult time in sexing oscars. the best success rate is somewhere around the 70% mark and considering the stress to the fish it really isnt worth the hassle.

jsut my opinion

yes, i totally agree on that. and that is why i haven't try
it for so long. however, since my Glutton is so greedy and
took my two other small oscar, i will try it with him/her
instead of using the magic bag of bgh in dis-orienting him/her.
a sort of punishment.

If they stay close together is that an indication that you have a pair? Mine are never far apart and they rub against each other. Both are about 5 inches long, I have no idea how old they are. I've had them 6 weeks since they were about 3 inches long.