Are any of these female elizabeth ?

[anewbie]

The seller sold me three additional fishes in theory 2f and 1m from the same batch as the previous male i posted - i think these are the three fishes:

This fish looks to have a sunken stomach maybe?

This one looks like a female to me but i'm not sure of species

male of some species

A little worried about the sunken stomach but not sure if it is an issue.

 

[Mazan]

I can’t help with the id but agree they do look skinny. Hopefully it’s just that they haven’t eaten for a while?

 

[anewbie]

I guess a bigger question i have is how to distinguish between female elizabeth and female uaupesi; about 20 minutes after i put them in they coloured up nicely (if i can get one to sit still in the open i'll post an updated picture); the one i think is a female has a dark line down the middle all the way to the tail and lack of colouring above and below the dark line; the one i think is a male looks very similar to the other male with the fully body dark.

They look similar but not identical to this picture:

https://www.aquariumglaser.de/wp-content/uploads/618704-apistogramma-elizabethae-red-belly3.jpg

 

[KenL]

I’d get them healthy before wondering what they are. Hopefully they turn out really nice specimens.

 

[anewbie]

I’d get them healthy before wondering what they are. Hopefully they turn out really nice specimens.

I'm not sure they are that unhealthy they do look a little shrunken in the stomach in the aquarium but not nearly as bad as those pictures and yes i am more concern about what they are as i have an existing male i'm trying to find a female and if these are for example crappy crap i don't want to waste my time pampering them. that is i would toss them into one of the community aquarium or a 5 if they might have parasite.

 

[Frank Hättich]

I guess a bigger question i have is how to distinguish between female elizabeth and female uaupesi;

To me they look like elizabethae - they are for sure not uaupesi.

 

[anewbie]

To me they look like elizabethae - they are for sure not uaupesi.

Can you explain from the picture the key markers that differentiate them from uaupesi; i've read Mike's article on species id but i jsut don't get it.

For Ken part of the reason i'm concern is that it seems there are different population and i wanted a female from the same population as the male in the event i can get them to breed.

 

[anewbie]

Couple of updates on 2 of the fishes:
fish 1:

2 pictures of fish 2:

One problem i need to resolve is what to do with the a. brevis that were mistakenly sent as they are getting aggressive. My thought was to put one in a 5 with a d39 (temporarily) and the other in a 10 with some gold rams I'm growing out. Eventually (maybe end of august) all the D39 will be moved into a 65 and i can then put the two a. brevis in the 5 until i decide what to do with them. While the 5 is almost certainly too small long term it should be ok for a couple of months maybe. Don't really know anything about this species, final size or aggression level.

 

[Frank Hättich]

Can you explain from the picture the key markers that differentiate them from uaupesi

The strongly serrated dorsal fin of the largest fish, the caudal pattern and the orange/yellow color at the lower edge of the caudal fin. Moreover, the inverted coloration (bright lateral band and dark markings above and below shown by the specimen in pictures 3 & 4) I haven't seen in any A. uaupesi (or related species) so far, but in A. elizabethae.

 

[anewbie]

The strongly serrated dorsal fin of the largest fish, the caudal pattern and the orange/yellow color at the lower edge of the caudal fin. Moreover, the inverted coloration (bright lateral band and dark markings above and below shown by the specimen in pictures 3 & 4) I haven't seen in any A. uaupesi (or related species) so far, but in A. elizabethae.

With the new pictures can you say anything about the sex? The pelvic and anal fin make me think the 2nd one is male but the colour and dorsal and caudal fin female esp given the caudal fin doesn't show the male lytrail and it is around 1.5 to 1.75 inch ? also i'm confused by the slight break in the lateral line and the tail spot; from your previous comment that break shoudln't exist...

 

[Frank Hättich]

With the new pictures can you say anything about the sex? The pelvic and anal fin make me think the 2nd one is male but the colour and dorsal and caudal fin female esp given the caudal fin doesn't show the male lytrail and it is around 1.5 to 1.75 inch ?

I'm not particularly good in sexing. But if fish 2 is in fact 4-4.5cm it's most likely a female. About the sex of fish 1 I can't say anything.

also i'm confused by the slight break in the lateral line and the tail spot; from your previous comment that break shoudln't exist...

I'm not completely sure what you mean, but depending on mood a narrow pale stripe that separates the lateral band from the caudal spot can occur in A. elizabethae: