Sexing some dwarf cichlids

[maalgard]

Hello,

I've got two "couples" of dwarf cichlids and doubts. Two apistogramma macmasteris and twos maroniis.
I need your enlightened opinions to determine their genders. Here are the fishes :


macmasteri 1 (sold as male) :

macmasteri 2 (female ?) :

Maronii 1 (the oldest) :

Maronii 2 :

Please excuse my poor english.
Thanks for your time.
best regards,

MD

 

[Mike Wise]

Your 'female' macmasteri looks like it probably is a young male to me. My guess is that it is still small, based on the size to the Rummy Nose Tetra. The Cleithacara appear to be sexed correctly (if over 3"/7,5 cm).

 

[maalgard]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your reply.
The 'female' macmasteri is 1"1/2 and the Cleithacara are >3" for the oldest (male?) and 2" for the other one (female?).

 

[TCMontium]

It seems to me that you have a macmasteri pair, but the sexes are the opposites. Or is the fish in the first two photos so yellow because of yellowish lighting/flash? Other than the yellow coloration, "his" tail has no tips either, which is very common in macmasteri males. So that is another hint for "him" being a female.
3rd and 4th photos are a male macmasteri for sure (if the selective variations did not go as far as producing "male-looking" females, which did happen with some cacatuoides lineages).

 

[maalgard]

Thanks TCMontium for your reply.
The fish in the first two photos is actually yellowish, even without the flash.

 

[gerald]

Keyholes (C. maronii) are tricky to determine sex. Males can get long fin filaments, but non-dominant males and females are nearly indistiguishable to me.

 

[Drayden Farci]

I'd agree that they are likely both males, based on the facial patterns. Female A. macmasteri don't typically have the red speckling.

 

[maalgard]

The more I watch them the more agree with you Drayden. The biggest (first 2 pics) is constantly chasing the other one, but not in a sexual/parading way. More to take the other one out of his territory.

 

[Drayden Farci]

It's also easy to tell from the shape of the tips of the dorsal fin spines. The males will have pointy spines, while the females' spines are almost rounded off. This seems to be a fairly good indication even from early age.

 

[gerald]

I'd agree that they are likely both males, based on the facial patterns. Female A. macmasteri don't typically have the red speckling.

Some of the modern hyper-pigmented aquarium strains of Apistos showing up these days have females with a surprising amount of male-like color. 15 years ago that yellow fish with red facial speckles would have most likely been a non-dominant male trying its best to look a female to avoid being murdered. But with recent selective breeding, i'm not sure anymore. Time will tell ...

 

[Drayden Farci]

Some of the modern hyper-pigmented aquarium strains of Apistos showing up these days have females with a surprising amount of male-like color. 15 years ago that yellow fish with red facial speckles would have most likely been a non-dominant male trying its best to look a female to avoid being murdered. But with recent selective breeding, i'm not sure anymore. Time will tell ...

A. cacatuoides are the worst for this. I've seen farms with breeding pairs and wondered where the females are because they look exactly like the males.