Sexing young A. sp abacaxis

[Erik82]

Hi All,
I have a very productive couple Apistogramma sp. abacaxis. There are around 140 young swimming in my tank. Whenn adult they are easy to sex, but is there a way to sex them wben they are stil small and young? For example with or without little spots in the coudalfin? Here a picture ofbthe parrents.

 

[Mike Wise]

I think you're going to have to wait until the males show some pattern on the caudal or burgundy red on the throat. While it's true that females - and immature males - don't have spot patterns in the tail, even some mature males from the original collecting site have almost no pattern.

 

[Erik82]

Thanks for your replay Mike. Some of the male shows the purple lips, some don't. It good to know that females don't have the spot patterns.