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Live and dummy stimulus fishes were used to determine why female convict cichlids, Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum, develop orange ventral coloration. Results show that male cichlids are insensitive to ventral color variation, while females seem to use color pattern as a visual cue. Females tend to be aggressive towards brightly colored fishes, while bright females exhibit the least aggression towards an intruding female of intermediate coloration. The findings indicate that sexual dichromatism in C. nigrofasciatum influences intrasexual aggression among females.