Possibly an interesting development...

Is this agassizii a male or female?

  • male

    Votes: 9 90.0%

  • female

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • Total voters
    10
Inka4040

Inka4040

O_o
Mar 31, 2008
3,441
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Real Name
The Silver Slanket
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?

DSC02061.jpg DSC02062.jpg
 
male has more blue on the gill plates
 
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.
 
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.
 
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...
 
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.
 
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.
 
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