Sexing A erythrura

[Happyfins]

I was hoping someone could talk me through identifying females. I have a photo of a female in breeding dress but nothing else to compare. I have a pair and what I hope is a female is getting some black in pelvic fins (which with my limited knowledge I take as a female sign) but also has quite sparkly gill covers and a touch of red in tail fin which I take as a pointer toward male sex. I will try to get a photo up but quality might not be up to scratch.
If someone has a photo of non breeding female I would much appreciate it.

 

[Happyfins]

hopefully good enough pics

 

[Happyfins]

This one shows the black in ventral fins. BTW 1st post should read ventral instead of pelvic fins

 

[Mike Wise]

How large is this fish?

 

[Happyfins]

About 2.5-3cm

 

[Happyfins]

actually more like 3-3.5cm

 

[Mike Wise]

Still a bit small for a positive ID at that size. Give them a few months and you should see the difference.

 

[atmagoulick]

It looks like a female.

 

[Drayden Farci]

Males at that size will typically have at least a faint red on the tail. Females may turn yellow when especially happy/breeding, and they might have slight black pelvic fins. I've noticed in A. erythrura the females sometimes have long pelvic fins that resemble males, so ID-ing them young is difficult.

 

[Ttw]

Not all A. erythrura have red caudals. Some have a faint blue and others have colorless caudals. I have collected all three types from the wild.

 

[Happyfins]

Update: This fish is getting more red in caudal fin and has a faint reddish strip in dorsal fin. I think it will turn out to be male and I will keep updating. Unfortunately I lost its mate which was a definite male. However, it bothers me less if I can talk myself into believing I had 2 males to start off with. Psychology is a strange thing.

 

[Happyfins]

Update

 

[TCMontium]

A bulky male.