New to the fish world

[:o)rosie:o)]

I have just started getting into fish after my dad accepted a 40 gal tank & a Silver Dollar & golden severum from our neighbours when they were moving (my dad has always liked fish but has never had the chance to get a proper big size tank. . My dad & I have a couple of questions

1) How can you tell which gender your fish is?
2) What is involved when breeding fish?

Thanks in advance for any info

[Hooben]

Welcome to the fish world, and our forum Rosie!

Every fish is different in the way they look and breed. The severum is a great fish, the male is generally larger than the female. It will have a marbled or speckled look around its head and its bottom fin will be longer than the females. I know thats hard to tell, since you only have one severum. I'm not sure about the silver dollar, they are very hard if not impossible to breed. Breeding is usually a matter of isolating a good pair and adjusting the water ph and hardness to match the specific fish according to where they live in the wild. That combined with a good diet can get you some baby fry. The severums are egg layers so they also need some rocks in the tank, or a clean clay flower pot to lay their eggs in. For now just concentrate on keeping the fishes you have healthy and happy and let us know if you have any more questions.

[:o)rosie:o)]

Thanks heaps Hooben From what I see I think we have a female Serverum, I dont see any spots or anything. We werent planning on breeding anything yet as we're still learning the basics. They're great fish & seem to be doing well. Could you tell me how to determine the gender of our Silver Dollar plz? Thanks again.

[grnlemonade]

i dont think there is a good way to sex silver dollars.......best way would be if u had a group, and a pair formed and bred.....other than that, i dont think you can.

[:o)rosie:o)]

So I guess you just have to be lucky!?

[grnlemonade]

pretty much, or get a group at a young age and let htem pair off naturally.

[:o)rosie:o)]

Well I wont be planning on breeding any type of fish for a while, but I do eventually want to one day.