sneaker or keeper

[Bruston87]

Hi all, I'm new to this site and apistogrammas and am after a bit of advice please.

Apologies if this has been done before
I'm still trying to work out how these forums work.

Last year I bought myself a pair of cacatuoides. After keeping them for a while I decided I wanted some more and had heard these guys do well in a harem. Great news for me as I prefer the females over the males. So I popped to my lfs and grabbed a few what I believed were females. They've taken some time to settle in and are doing well now.

However my concern is that one may be a sneaker male. Unfortunately I'm on a late tonight and don't have any photos to hand, but I was wondering if anyone could tell me a few tell tale signs as to whether it's a sneaker or female. The reason I doubt her/him is she has quite a bit more colour than my other females and hasn't really got the same yellow tinge. Having said that the fins are short in comparison to my male. Of course I'll post some photos when I get home but curiosity has gotten the better of me and I just couldn't wait to ask for some advice.

Many thanks

 

[Mike Wise]

Photos might help. I will says this, however. Females of domestic bred color strains of apistos - especially A. cacatuoides - can display many of the colors seen on males. This makes it hard to sex them.

 

[Bruston87]

Thanks for the response Mike.

When I get home from work I'll try and get some photos for you. One thing I didn't add was my male doesn't seem to like this one much and chases it off quite often which also makes me suspect a sneaker. But the short fins and black lines on the ventral fins bring me back to a female.

 

[Bruston87]

As promised here are a few pictures. Sorry for the quality but she/he's a lovely one and this was the best I could do.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Looks like a female, it has black leading edges to the ventral fins.

cheers Darrel

 

[Bruston87]

Thanks for the response Darrel.

I feel more comfortable having that opinion. Fingers crossed the male will get a bit more tolerant of her in the future.

 

[chris1805]

I would have bought this one myself as a female as well

 

[Bruston87]

Perfect. Thanks for everyone's input. Much appreciated.

 

[coralbandit]

Everything says female to me ,except the dorsal...Too much to a point especially if still immature...
Although not as pointy the anal fin also reaches well into the tale....
MALE 75% is my vote...

 

[chris1805]

I have seen many female cacatuoides have male finnage due to all the line breeding. The head is the only thing that does not change. If you look at the form of the head it is a female.

 

[Bruston87]

Thanks for the reply Coral and Chris, much appreciated. Maybe I'll give it a while and get some new photos for everyone to look at and see if there are any changes.

 

[HengLee]

I have two Cacatuoides which look very similar to yours and they were sold to me as female.
Originally, I bought two pairs but one male had died. Now I'm left with one male and two female.

 

[Bruston87]

Here's the latest photos of her for those that are interested.