Panduro male or female?

[Jacco]

Hi,
I just bought these panduro's. I think they are all female, but I'm not sure. Can anybody help me out?
thx.

 

[Mike Wise]

They all look like females to me right now. How large are the fish?

 

[3ze]

Females for sure!

 

[Jacco]

the small ones are 3-4 cm, the larger one is 1 cm larger i'd say. Thx for the replies
what are the caracteristics how to tell both sexes appart when they are not fully grown. My shop keeper has trouble providing me females AND males....

 

[3ze]

The females should grow a bit bigger (up to 6 cm), the males up to 8 cm.
If they are young, all apisto's are very difficult to sexe...
The black spot on the belly is typical female.
Males also have a blue-isch shine in their fins.

 

[Jacco]

The fish on the left and the first phota has no black on the bottum of the belly... is this still a female?

 

[Mike Wise]

They are just too small/young to sex easily. Some experienced breeders are able to sex fish this size after years of breeding and raising a species, but most (like me) have a hard time explaining the differences. It is more instinct and then not 100% accurate. If I were you I would buy more than a pair. I would look for a couple of specimens with a smaller flank patch that tended to be the dominant fish in the tank - and then hope they becomes males.

 

[Thegundog]

The images are two of six Panduro's I picked up recently which gives you an idea of the differences in appearance male/female.

My male is approx. 1 1/2"

Of my six I have a very small fish (probably 1/2 "- 3/4") with no black on the sides, belly or pelvic/ventral fins at all. The fish, even though it is young and small, is very similiar to the male in my images. I'm definetly no expert but I think you probably have three females.

 

[Thegundog]

Wanted to update my post: as I was feeding this morning, I noticed my male has a side spot on only one side - very interesting....

Here is the updated image.

 

[Jacco]

thx all, it's obvious i have females. So i bought some obvious males at a different store with larger panduro's.

 

[Apistomaster]

I think you were fortunate to have ended up with three females because males often out number females so you should be able to get more males thus have many pairs to work with.

There is a lot of variability with regard to the side spot pattern among A. panduro and A. nissenji.
Including some having the spot showing on only one side. It isn't typical but it isn't rare either.