Sneaky Male or Normal Breeding Behavior?

[Christine-FishGrrl]

I have four Apisto. cacatoides in my 25 gallon long heavily planted tank and since I'm new at Apisto breeding, I'm not sure what I'm seeing is normal or what. I have three supposed triple red females which I got from a very reliable source and a month or two ago I added a wild-caught male. The male doesn't seem too interested in breeding that I can tell, he just chases off any female that comes close to him. The females seemed very hot to trot when he first was put into the tank, turning all yellow and trying to sidle up to him. After weeks of no breeding, one of the females is trying this trick with another female. The two females will even do the shake-my-tail-at-you trick that I thought was associated with 'lets-breed.' All the females do turn bright yellow on occasion and all have black on the front of the front fins that hang down (sorry I need to brush up on fish anatomy). So is this normal between perhaps frustrated females or do I have another male pretending to be a female?

My wild-caught male seems to be getting in the mood - he's coloring up beautifully and is getting more possessive about the cave I have in the middle of the tank.

 

[farm41]

sounds pretty typical to me, give them a little time