Borellii or blue steel?

[Bobblehead27]

I picked up a couple of fish marked as borellii the other day. now I'm sitting here at work reading about and seeing pics of blue steels sold as borellii and I'm getting nervous I should be home from work tomorrow afternoon and take some pics but I was wondering at what size should I be able to tell the difference because I'm noticing a lot of blue speckles on their face and I'm thinking I was duped. also what size should they start getting their mature colors in? mine are still small I'd say maybe an inch.

 

[gerald]

Photos would help. Steel-blue vs borellii should be distinguishable at that size, although there's a bunch of other possible steel-blue lookalikes (inconspicua, caetei, etc). Determining sex may take longer. Both are nice fish -- don't be too disappointed if they're steel-blues, as long as you can find a female.

 

[Bobblehead27]

Yea based on what I read this is definitely a steel blue (or at least definitely not a borellii) based on the spot at the start of the tail

 

[MickeM]

As you say..The Apisto in your pic is absolutely not a borellii .. !! By the yellow color + lacking any blue metallic signs/shimmering, it may be a female..??????
Do you know if they are bought from a wholesaler as WildCaught or as bred fishes ??
How much did they cost??

Post a pic of a male if you can/have one!!

 

[aquaticclarity]

I'd say female, but it's not a borellii. More pictures of the fish, especially at more of a straight on angle at the side of the body, would help though.

 

[Bobblehead27]

As you say..The Apisto in your pic is absolutely not a borellii .. !! By the yellow color + lacking any blue metallic signs/shimmering, it may be a female..??????
Do you know if they are bought from a wholesaler as WildCaught or as bred fishes ??
How much did they cost??

Post a pic of a male if you can/have one!!

They definitely have metallic blue speckles all over their face starting to get some on the body
Tank bred
2 for 18
I've come to terms with the fact that they're steel blue might return them for some female Agassizii but I might just keep them. my wife still likes them

 

[Bobblehead27]

Here's the beSt pic of the male I can get with this phone.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
With the usual disclaimer that I'm not very good at this, but they look like a male and female of "Steel-Blue".

These ones belonged to Ste Chesters.

cheers Darrel

 

[Bobblehead27]

Yep that looks like them. thanks I was really looking forward to borellii but whatever you win some you lose some I guess.

 

[Madchester313]

l I know this is a old thread

I too went for some borellii but it has been suggested mine may well be steel blue although I can see the black circle just before the tail fin on mine like your have.

How have yours turned out was they infact steel blue. Not 100% sure what I have there still young. No idea what sex either

 

[Mike Wise]

A. borellii

 

[Madchester313]

Thanks mike