D39 male or female ?

[natoufly]

Hello everyone

I just received four D39 apistos,
two males and two females.
They're still young. I'm sure one of them is a male, but I have a feeling they're all males...

First individual, I can recognize this one because it has a damaged caudal fin.

I'll try to take photos of the others.

 

[Frank Hättich]

This is a male.

 

[natoufly]

thanks

n°2

 

[natoufly]

n°3 no doubt this one must be a male

 

[Mike Wise]

Females, for most, do not show any pattern in the caudal fin. I recommend that you compare your fish to those on TomC's website: https://www.tomc.no/fish.aspx?fishIndexID=2595&gruppeID=1

 

[natoufly]

 

[Frank Hättich]

I see only males in your pictures.

 

[anewbie]

I see only males in your pictures.

Do you think they are D39 ?

 

[Frank Hättich]

Do you think they are D39 ?

yes

 

[natoufly]

I see only males in your pictures.

thank you, first impressions are often the right ones...
I've sent an e-mail to the store, I'll keep you posted.
I also had the same bad surprise with dario black tiger except that the price of the females is not the same as the males.

 

[anewbie]

here are a couple of pictures of (i believe) my young female around 1/2 to 3/4 an inch:
The first fish is different than the 2nd - i tried to get a good picture of the tails but they wouldn't sit still - despite my asking very very nicely - instead they wanted to - well i have no clue what they wanted; they do change colour rapidly if they are high or low as the aquarium has a different look.

 

[Apistoguy52]

thank you, first impressions are often the right ones...
I've sent an e-mail to the store, I'll keep you posted.
I also had the same bad surprise with dario black tiger except that the price of the females is not the same as the males.

I had a group of these once…ended up with what I thought was 5m/1f. Moved the 4 extra males to a community tank…only to find one in the community tank with a group of fry a month later

 

[Mike Wise]

here are a couple of pictures of (i believe) my young female around 1/2 to 3/4 an inch:

At that size even juvenile males will resemble females.

 

[anewbie]

At that size even juvenile males will resemble females.

I thought from frank picture even the juvi males will have pattern on the tail fin - there are other traits like the male behavior towards them is different than the other confirmed male. Anyway i guess in 2 or 3 months i'll know for sure

 

[Mike Wise]

Yes, time will tell. I didn't see photos on any of Frank's posts.

 

[natoufly]

Hi, I'm back to ask your opinion, on the four D39 I received 3 are clearly males, but the fourth remains smaller and has not developed much color or his fins

on the third photo you see a male that was the same size at the starton the third photo you see a male that was the same size at the start

 

[Frank Hättich]

I still think that it's a male, because I have never seen a female showing any red markings on the gill cover, let alone at this small size.

 

[anewbie]

I think that the 4th picture is a male. When i go downstairs i'll get a picture of the one(s) I have that i think are females. They look very different than the males.

 

[natoufly]

ok yes I'm not convinced that it's a female either, but the difference in fin development and color makes me hopeful...

I took back two individuals but they are too small for the moment.

what can you do if you only have males of a species where it will be almost impossible to find a female ?

 

[anewbie]

if you are in usa aquaticclarity has some for sale you could ask him if he has a female.

conversely if you are very very patient and mine breed i can send you a female in 9 or 12 months depending on when they are old enough to breed (if you are in usa).

Last but least you can accept them as they are a lovely fish and just enjoy them as they are without breeding them.