What sex is this fish ?

[anewbie]

Can someone confirm the sex/breed of this fish - thanks:

 

[HookedOnFish_MI]

Can someone confirm the sex/breed of this fish - thanks:

View attachment 10044

I don’t see a pic that came through.

 

[anewbie]

I don’t see a pic that came through.

Maybe you didn't give it time to load? I can see it fine...

 

[Mike Wise]

What was it sold as?

 

[anewbie]

What was it sold as?

It was sold as a very young hongsloi not sexable 7 months ago. I believe it is a female but not 100% sure.

 

[MacZ]

It was sold as a very young hongsloi not sexable 7 months ago. I believe it is a female but not 100% sure.

Could actually be. The colouration is washed out. Is the tanik very brightly lit?

 

[anewbie]

Could actually be. The colouration is washed out. Is the tanik very brightly lit?

Yes - that is the normal colour for this fish. The two confirmed males are much more colourful - but very different. One is gold colour other has red streak on the bottom. I purchased them on Jun 18th so 8 months ago - they were a bit under 1/4 of any inch (small). I don't think it is a runt as it doesn't have any obvious deformities.

 

[MacZ]

Still the tank seems too bright.

 

[anewbie]

Still the tank seems too bright.

It is a 29 with a fluval 3.0 on the top. There is some hornworth and frogbit on the surface to diffuse the light. I think it is not overly bright - i might had the flash on when i took that picture - here are the two confirmed males:

 

[MacZ]

I think it is not overly bright - i might had the flash on when i took that picture

Na, those washed out colours are a reaction to bright backgrounds. Fish always try to fit in with their background. Dark tank, dark fish. Bright tank, bright fish. Too bright can be stressful over time, though.
These two guys here also look quite bright.

 

[anewbie]

Na, those washed out colours are a reaction to bright backgrounds. Fish always try to fit in with their background. Dark tank, dark fish. Bright tank, bright fish. Too bright can be stressful over time, though.
These two guys here also look quite bright.

When i redo the tank in a year i'll try to find a very fine black substrate instead of white. This is moonlight which is powder fine. The only black I can find is saechem flourite black - it is marginally thicker than moonlight (0.5mm vs .75mm). Here is the full tank:

 

[MacZ]

You got me wrong, you don't have to get new substrate. The overall lighting is very bright. Some leaves on the sand and either some tint in the water or even more subdued lighting would be enough.

You keep them with plecos? Bold choice.

 

[anewbie]

You got me wrong, you don't have to get new substrate. The overall lighting is very bright. Some leaves on the sand and either some tint in the water or even more subdued lighting would be enough.

You keep them with plecos? Bold choice.

Young pleco. They are able to chase them away when they lay eggs. I do wonder if they have pleco in their natural environment....

When the pleco grow out a bit they will be moved to a larger tank - their adult size is 5 inches - but they have a long ways to go to get near that.

 

[anewbie]

anyway anyone able to confirm the sex of the first pictured fish ?

 

[MacZ]

Young pleco. They are able to chase them away when they lay eggs. I do wonder if they have pleco in their natural environment....

When the pleco grow out a bit they will be moved to a larger tank - their adult size is 5 inches - but they have a long ways to go to get near that.

More because Apistos are diurnal and plecos sometimes tend to nocturnal lifestyle, which can conflict sometimes.
Many plecos share the biotope with many Apistogramma, though as far as I know they rarely interact due to different activity times and parts of the biotope that are preferred.

 

[yukondog]

For me it's to bright, if your not looking to breed the plecos for now may be ok, like Mac said too bright. I use cheap opaque cutting boards under the light to defuse the light and leaf litter also.

 

[anewbie]

For me it's to bright, if your not looking to breed the plecos for now may be ok, like Mac said too bright. I use cheap opaque cutting boards under the light to defuse the light and leaf litter also.

Well I can let the forgbit regrow - when i did a water change on saturday i threw away 2/3 of it - the frogbit will shade the bottom. However - there are places in the back that are fully shaded - the fishes always go there the first 2 hours after a water change before the return to the front.
--
I have no intention of breeding the pleco in that tank. First they need another good 6 monhts of growth to be breedable second the only pleco i intend to intentionally breed are the L204 and that tank doesn't have the current nor water conditions.
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Still we need to answer the initial question - can that fish be sex'ed ?

 

[MacZ]

75% it's a female, if that wasn't clear from the beginning.

 

[anewbie]

I now believe it is 100% it is a she. However it picked the most odd place to lay the eggs - with all the undergrowth and caves she chose to lay them in the open on the sponge filter:

 

[anewbie]

Ok. I updated the substrate and reduce the lights a bit. The plants are doing better with the new substrate though it will need another 45 to 60 days to balance out completely. I turned the lights down about 25% - i actually used a par meter to make sure the par was above 30 at the bottom so the crypts do ok.

You got me wrong, you don't have to get new substrate. The overall lighting is very bright. Some leaves on the sand and either some tint in the water or even more subdued lighting would be enough.

You keep them with plecos? Bold choice.