Macmasteri or what?

[Marcelo]

Hello,

Can anyone tell me if the top most apisto on the first pic is a macmasteri? The other two are a pair but this one I want to know I bought from a different store, and I'm not sure...

http://www.adorocinema.com/celo/03.jpg

Another picture of him/her... Is it a male or female?

http://www.adorocinema.com/celo/01.jpg

Thank you,

 

[Nain]

macmasteri

As I write this I am seated beside a small 5 1/2 gallon tank in which there are a pair of macmasteri spawning. The males's suborbital cheek stripe is a pale line, while the female's is wide and solid so much so that the eye appears at first glance to be part of the stripe. The male's ventral fins are solid red/orange with tips tending to a pale orange pastel. The female's ventral fins are solidly bordered at the front edge with black almost to the tip of the fin.


Based on my fish in compsarison with your photos, I would say in the upper photo that, that is a male macmasteri at the front, and in the lower photo that is definitely again a male. The ventral fin tips are identical to those on my male.

 

[Marcelo]

Hello Nain,

Thank you! I thought it was a female cause it has the first ray of the dorsal fin completely black, and it is not as colorfull as the other males I have.

 

[Neil]

Sub-dominant males often carry many female characteristics to avoid punishment from a dominant male. Black rays on a dorsal fin alone is not the best discriptive issue for judging gender. Recessive color can easily be muted color on a sub-dominant male. You kind of have to look at numerous qualities and it would be helpful to do so after a dominant male is removed for awhile.
Neil

 

[Marcelo]

Hello Neil,

He was alone in a tank for a long time. I just bought the others a couple of months ago.

Thank you,