Sexchange in Apistogramma?

[OHR]

Can some species truly change their sex?, not just become sneaker males but fertile?

 

[Mike Wise]

Yes. Use the 'search' feature and look for "sex change". You'll find several posts.

 

[Bilbo]

Yes definately. I had 5 adult female agassizi and one changed into a male.


I dont know if it goes the other way or not. Has anyone ever seen males change into females?

 

[OHR]

For once I cannot get the exellent search feature to work Mike, as it refuses to look for "sex" - and the word "change" seems to be a part of every thread.

Bilbo, I think I have seen females change sex too,but never males.
Can all Apistos change sex?

 

[viejo]

I think that all cichlids can change.

 

[Mike Wise]

Check here: http://forum.apistogramma.com/showthread.php?t=8336&highlight=change. As I wrote then, most reports can't be confirmed because they were not under controled conditions.

 

[viejo]

Exactemente, I am only 99% sure of the ones that I have experienced.
Ginny Eckstein, the catfish lady, was quite positive about 'Tootsie' the chocolate cichlid that went from functioning male to egglaying female.

 

[Chromedome]

Tootsie was a Caquetaia spectabilis that had been the male of a breeding pair. When the female died, 'he' laid eggs that hatched, so it wasn't so much a sex change as becoming a self fertilizing hermaphrodite.

I've met one person who insisted that her former female of a breeding pair of Aggies became a male when she introduced a younger female, and that they then bred successfully. Don Zilliox insisted that the largest female in a group of Crenicara punctulata will become the next male if he is removed. This has been repeated by others, whether from personal experience or just repeating what they'd heard is uncertain.

 

[viejo]

Now I've been told that it was a hypselecara temporalis, Caquetaia spectabilis & I could have sworn that Ginny said that it was a carpintis :wink: however, it's been some time since I heard the tale. I do recall the self fertilization part now that you mention it.

 

[blueblue]

I actually have one recent story to tell.
I got a pair of blue phantom Aggie (wild-caught).
The female had spawned and got fry before.
After the male died, I placed it with some other
apistos (in a mixed tank). It now grows up (it is still there)
and becomes a big MALE fish (we can tell by looking at the
size and also the distinct features of male such as the fish tail).
To me, I have no interests to scientifically prove this case
while this recent case, together with quite a number of previous
cases in my own tanks, reinforces my belief that many many
apistos would have sex changing feature. The question is
under which kind of conditions... plus, owing to the relatively
short-life span of an apisto, it is difficult to let an apisto spawn as
both a male and a female separately.