Apisto ID help.

[Bruxism]

So I purchased these 2 fish a couple weeks ago under the name apisto viejita. It was at a auction and I didn't get a great look at them but they went cheap so I got them. When I got home the male looked more a macmasteri, I don't really care though I like him anyway. Now though I'm starting to wonder if the female is even the same the male, I've had them 3 weeks and he hasn't even looked at her sideways pretty much acts as she's not even in the tank with him.

Male.

Female. She's very shy so hard to get a clear picture

 

[Hellfishguy]

Your "female" looks like a male Apistogramma panduro.

 

[Bruxism]

Your "female" looks like a male Apistogramma panduro.

Yeah I have a group of panduro and it does look very similar when they were smaller

 

[Hellfishguy]

I've been keeping & breeding A. panduro for over a year. Lovely species, but the males don't seem to produce many eggs

 

[Bruxism]

I've been keeping & breeding A. panduro for over a year. Lovely species, but the males don't seem to produce many eggs

Haha indeed. Maybe I should throw it in with my spare panduro females and see if they hit it off lol

 

[Hellfishguy]

Why not ? They make excellent parents & the fry are fearless & grow very rapidly.

 

[Siggi]

I've been keeping & breeding A. panduro for over a year. Lovely species, but the males don't seem to produce many eggs

I've kept several Apistogrammas for several years and I have yet to see a male that produced eggs...
But then - with all these new technologies, I guess anything is possible...

Now seriously - some fish, in the absence of an alpha male, the alpha female can turn male... but that's not what you were talking about...

 

[Hellfishguy]

I've kept several Apistogrammas for several years and I have yet to see a male that produced eggs...
But then - with all these new technologies, I guess anything is possible...
That was just my feeble attempt at humor. But seriously, I've had sneaker male A. agassizii stay in female coloration for over a year. With panduros, however, the young sex out very early & I've never had sneaker males.

 

[Bruxism]

Managed to get a better pic.
Thinking maybe juvenile female panduro?

 

[Mike Wise]

Thinking ... or hoping? It looks like a male to me.

 

[Bruxism]

It would be great if it was male actually lol my 2 other male panduro don't have the black spot though.

 

[Mike Wise]

If you mean the lateral spot on the flanks, then all males possess it, but don't show it in dominant/unstressed mood. Just net one out of the tank and see if it doesn't appear. If it doesn't appear, then they had it bred out somehow.

 

[Bruxism]

I through him in with my extra females and he almost instantly lost it and gained some bluish color.

 

[Mike Wise]

Question answered!