Assumed male Apistogramma Borellii not colouring up

[CrowAndHydra]

I got what I believed was a male and female Borellii about year ago, they never got on, never coloured up and didn't really show any sort of gender norms apart from not having rounded fins so I guessed they were both males.
I have since split them up and have gotten two female Borellii opal supers to try and pair them off. I was told they would breed but their offspring will be either opal supers or just Borellii's, is this correct?

The two in my 20 long originally got along, but not as much anymore.
The "male" has gotten much larger and has long trailing pelvic fins but still hasn't coloured up apart from a very dull blue every now and then. (swimming above rock)
The female is small, yellow and very bossy. (watching "male" from in the vallisneria)

The "male" in my other tank is extremely shy, it has a bent dorsal fin so I have never been able to tell if it has a high fin. It is also not showing much colour and doesn't have any trailing fins. (hiding behind the Java Fern)
The female in that tank is small and mean, but is almost white when showing colours. (hiding near the Anubias coin)

Is it just bad genetics that the "males" aren't showing colours? Or have I miss-gendered them?

 

[Mike Wise]

The only fish in any of the photos that I would confidently say is a male is in photo #3. The photos are just not good enough. The male in photo #3 reminds me of "A. reitzigi" (synonym for A. borellii) that were available in the hobby in the 1960-70s when most apistos were rare. That being said please realize that A. borellii is widespread in the Rio Paraguay system and probably is a superspecies composed of multiple closely related species. Color in A. borellii forms to some extent varies with location. Forms from southern Brazil and Bolivia tend to show more yellow on the face and body while those farther south in Paraguay tend to have more blue. That being said color in any population can vary, especially on the face. Your 'opal supers' are probably not a set strain or population since many populations show superior looking specimens.