Apistogramma diplotaenia

[aquaticclarity]

I just got a group of tank raised A. diplotaenia this past Friday (5-3-11). They were sold to me as young fish that couldn't be sexed yet. I bought all 7 that were available to increase my chances of getting at least a pair out of them. The fish came in in great shaped...even though they were all packed in one bag together! The fish were between 7/8" and 1 1/4" so not the young fish promised but adult size already as diplotaenia is one of the smaller species of Apistos.

Sexing the fish has proved to be atypical and I could use a little help from those of you with any experience/knowledge of this fish. It seems that the normal black leading edge on the ventral fins may not be a good indicator for females as one of the more colorful (dark blue and black) and larger diplotaenia has very dark ventral fin edges. Although another diplo that I would have thought was a male from the displaying and color turned out to be a female guarding eggs already on Sunday (5-5-11) about 36 hours after arriving!!! As of Monday (5-6-11) the eggs are gone though. I'm guessing that either the pH was an issue (I haven't started to push it down much yet) or that maybe I don't have a male or at least a mature male in the tank.

So any tips on sexing these guys would be greatly appreciated so I can figure out what I have and if I need to try and track down a few more or not.

I have a few pictures of the fish but the tank they are in has pretty bad glass panels so only part of each shot is really usable on all but a few pictures.

 

[aquaticclarity]

I'm starting to think that I might have 7 female diplotaenia. Two of the fish in the group do not have the black leading edge to their ventral fins but they have slightly damaged ventral fins. The rest of their fins, over all color, and how they interact wold lead me to believe that they are females.

So, now the big question...does any one in the U.S. have a male Apistogramma diplotaenia they would be willing to sell me or trade for a female or two?

 

[aquaticclarity]

No one has any advice?

 

[apistodave]

okokokok

These are nice fish--the females have one particular trick they perform that is cool. When they are gravid, the space between the lateral lines will be transparent and the eggs will be visible! When she turns her side to the male, he can see she is ready. As for the rest--the difference in size between males and females is a little larger than in other species, with the males being clearly the larger. the dorsal thing applies here also--fems rounded, males with a trailing spike.