Is this apisto hongsloi a female?

[neo705]

I'm sorry for posting yet another gender identification question.

After failing to find a male panduro I decided to go for a pair of apisto hongsloi.

The male is obvious but the female coloured up straight after being added to the tank... and I think it's a male as there's some red showing up on the body and fins.

Can someone confirm? If it is indeed a male what is a failsafe way of picking a female at the store (as opposed to a subdominant male).

 

[neo705]

Average sized oto for scale in one of the photos

 

[MacZ]

Pretty sure it's a male. Females of A. hongsloi stay smaller usually.

 

[neo705]

Pretty sure it's a male. Females of A. hongsloi stay smaller usually.

She is smaller than the male. But size aside, can females get the red markings on the lateral line, belly/flank, dorsal fins, and base of tail?

 

[anewbie]

I will make this comment:

I had a female hongsloi that i asked (on this forum) if it was male or female and most said it was a male but then a bit later - maybe 6 months it started laying eggs so i guess it was a female. It was a large fish as large as my largest male but no where as pretty as your fishes. My point and it is not a great point but why i will not guess is these fishes (hongsloi) are very difficult to sex even as adults but if it ever lays eggs then you will know it is a female.

 

[neo705]

Not giving me a lot of confidence there anewbie
Sadly I have no other tank to relocate a male hongsloi.

There's got to be a trait that's unique to females that even sneaker males don't get or vice versa.
With the panduro (my previous blunder) it was the black blotch. What is the equivalent for hongsloi?

Just for fun I asked a few AI assistants and they are divided on whether female hongsloi get any red on them at all or not.

This fish has a lot of red.

 

[neo705]

Pretty sure it's a male. Females of A. hongsloi stay smaller usually.

Better photo for size comparison.

 

[Mike Wise]

It is a color-enhanced domestic strain that you have. Even females can show masculine features so it is hard to sex this fish. Wild fish? Easy. Domestics? Not so much. Other than egg laying and becoming more yellow when brooding fry, females should have shorter, more blunt tips on the anal and dorsal fins - when fully mature.

 

[KenL]

I would say that is more likely to be a male.

 

[neo705]

It is a color-enhanced domestic strain that you have. Even females can show masculine features so it is hard to sex this fish. Wild fish? Easy. Domestics? Not so much. Other than egg laying and becoming more yellow when brooding fry, females should have shorter, more blunt tips on the anal and dorsal fins - when fully mature.

If this is a female then it should be fully mature and unfortunately she is looking more like a he now that she settled a bit more.