Urgent- sexing cacatuoides

[Katchan]

Hi quick but urgent (incase seperation is required) question. Can female cacatuoides have fully coloured fins?

I picked up what I thought was a juvie male a couple of weeks ago. larger body than the obvious females, and starting to colour up on the fins, just no crest but since juvie I thought nothing of it. Fins have coloured up to near 75% since then but no crest? would definetly be a triple red

I picked up a bueatiful orange male today, and asked the assistant to grab me a large female (I was trying to control a 4 and 5 year old from wreking the shop) had a quick look at the chosen fish, gave the ok, noting it was indeed a "large" female. on ariving home and aclimitising it I noted it to be very similar to the "male" well developed colour in the fins (but no black markings as in the triple red) and again no crest, are these male or female, very confused, advice please

Katchan

 

[Griz]

Tough to be certain without pics. Any chance of you posting some?

A few thoughts however. Females can have some nice colour in their fins but I haven't seen any that come close to a male's colouration. If a male is over about an inch or so long, it should have begun to develop it's crest, the first few rays of the dorsal fin should be longer. The difference can be subtle in younger fish, it takes a while for the characteristic crest to fully develop. An even more reliable way to sex A. cacatuoides is to look at the ventral fins which should have a black leading edge in females.

Are you absolutely certain that these fish are A. cacatuoides? There are dozens of apistogramma out there and these fish seem to be gaining popularity. I wonder if these are a different species?

 

[Katchan]

Ok got off my lazy but and found the camera and managed to get some ok images

the first three of of the first fish I mentioned, the second two the second obviously

Katchan

 

[pnyklr3]

Ok, I have a female whom I would consider to be "very colorful." She is not, however, as colorful as the one in the pics. Are these two seperate females in the pics (I think they are different, but just making sure). I have found one trick that, so far, has been fool-proof. Look at the pelvic fins. If there is a black bar on the fronts of them, this is a female fish. I have never seen a male with black on the fron of the pelvic fins. Look at the fins a few times, because the fins will sometimes pale, and you won't notice. If anyone has a male with the black, let me know, so I can stop passing this info along! My breeder is the one who told me this, and it has worked for her so far.

 

[Katchan]

found out last night that the fish in the first two pics is definetly female , although most of the eggs have dissapeared I havnt figured out if she is hiding them or eating them time will tell I guess. According to david soares (if you dont know, dont ask) the other is female as well (in fact he picked the first as female before she spawned) thanks for the help guys, wasnt suprised about the yellower fish but the orange/red kinda blew me away

Katchan

 

[pnyklr3]

I would trust Dave Soares to be able to sex his fish! I think that if a female has orange, that is okay, but if it has def red and/or dark black (like the males have), then you should worry about it being male. Congrats on a gorgeous female! She'll have some good-looking fry.