The different varieties of Scalars!
The Scalar is renowned for the beauty of its triangular shape, but also for its many varieties! There are mainly two “types” of varieties: wild varieties and farmed varieties.
Wild varieties
The varieties of wild strain are characterized by fish with a gray background and composed of lines or bands. Can then be added points, or tasks for example.
The variety will often be defined according to the place of origin of the fish, such as the Rio Manacapuru Scalar for example, recognizable with its orange / red back. Be careful, a wild type variety does not mean that the fish was collected from the wild. It just means that its shape or colors match the fish living in the area in question.
We can cite several varieties of wild scalars such as:
The Rio Nanay
The Rio Manacapuru
The Santa Isabel
Peruvian Scalar
Breeding varieties
There are also many varieties of colored scalars on the market. These varieties are said to be farmed, because they come from the selection of scalars to obtain a different visual appearance.
Among the breeding varieties, we very often find the following:
The Blue Scalar
The Marbled Scalar
As well as the Scalar Koi
And the Red Devil Scalar
Sexual dimorphism
The differences between the male and the female scalar are not many, but there are some!
First of all, it is important to note that scalar sexing cannot be done when the fish are too young. It will be necessary to wait until they can reproduce before being able to differentiate them from a reliable source.
Indeed, the only 100% sure way to distinguish a male from a female scalar is to observe the genitals, visible during the breeding season.
The male scalar has a pointed, forward-facing sexual organ. The female scalar has a genital organ that is often larger, cone-shaped and slightly posterior. The genitals are visible some time before spawning and after, which leaves time to clearly identify the sex of the individuals.
There are other features to note but these cannot be used as a sure way to distinguish female and male. However, many males have a more or less pronounced bump on the head, while female scalars are generally smaller than males..