Possibly an interesting development...

[Inka4040]

So some time last week, one of my male apistogramma agassiziis decided to embark on a carpet surfing expedition. Prior to his little trip, I had placed a female from another pair with him, seeing as how his female couldn't really pull the trigger. "She" seemed to be guarding a clutch numerous times, but I never saw any fry. Within a few days of adding the new female, she was holed up in a cave, and sure enough, fry emerged some time later. Unfortunately, not long after that, the male called it quits, and I guess the new female was unable to guard the fry effectively without him. What's interesting however, is that in his absence, what I once thought to be his matched female is beginning to look a bit unladylike. I've heard that male apistos will often not express mature coloration in the presence of a dominant male, but am not sure that's really what is happening. What do you all think this fish is, a formerly suppressed male, or an abnormally colorful female?

[nano cichlids]

male has more blue on the gill plates

[fishorama]

I voted male, the tail & dorsal in the top pic look it to me. I had a "pair" of aggies pick out as juveniles. The male chased the "female" but also sometimes seemed to "flirt". After ~9+ months the "female" fins started to show a more masculine look & sometimes the coloration would slip toward male for a short time.

[Hooked Newbie]

I voted male. Did you ever SEE eggs before? The guarding behavior may have just been a suppressed male being religated to a single, small territory by the dominant male.

[Inka4040]

Never physically seen eggs, but then again I've never disturbed them to look. The funny thing is, this fish has gotten extremely yellow before, so I never even entertained the possibility that it could be a male. It was the dorsal fin and all the iridescence that's showing up on the body that did it for me... Also, try as I might, I couldn't find a picture of a female aggie with as much caudal coloring as this one is showing either. I guess now, my question is whether this "male" has the potential to reach a good size, or if the period of subordination will have affected it's full growth/development potential...

[fishorama]

Mine seemed a bit stunted.

[jm1212]

looks like a male to me

[Inka4040]

Looks like the answers are relatively unanimous. Thanks to all of you for the input and help :D. Do you all think this fish's value as a breeder is at all compromised by this situation? If anyone's interested, I will definitely keep a picture log to show how this fish develops in the upcoming weeks and months.

[fish_master2000]

It had to be a male. some of mine other cichlids do that, don't know why though? also when my domonate tank male(mixed tank)died. i had a huge amount of males change color and fight for position.