Apistogramma agasizzi help

Hi all, i have 2 agassizi's which i believed to be male and female, however i am now having doubts. My male is a certainty...hes twice as big extremely colourfull and his fins are out of this world!! My female shows all the signs of being female (smaller, less colourfull and a rounded tail as apposed the his pointy tail) i have had them about 3 months and am slowly lowering the p.h to there preferances. Over the last month my male has become aggressive with the female. If he sees her he will flare up and charge full speed at her and occasionally if caught will nip her in the side. Other times it seems as tho he goes hunting for her. He randomly flares up and goes looking and if he spots her will charge at her. There not as bad when its feeding time but if she gets too close he chases her away. What i dont get is when i 1st bought them they were inseparable...any help would be a hugely appreciated!

This is my male

And this is my female. Will get a better picture when im home

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Does the female have any black in the fins under the head? I am more familiar with cacatuoides and I know with this species there are such things as sleeper males. These are males that take on female appearance to avoid the unwanted attentions of the dominant male. One of the group I once bred years ago even went to the extent of becoming bright yellow before suddenly changing colour and growing fin extensions.

I would say that your female is either a sleeper male or for some reason the male has taken as dislike to her. Or possibly wants to spawn and she doesn't.
How big is the tank? Is there any chance of adding one or even 2 more females?

Thanks for the reply. Im not sure to be honest. I will check as soon as i am home and will post a good pic of her (5.30ish). From what i can remember she is exactly the same as the male just smaller fins and doesnt have the metallic/pearlescent scales along the body. She changes from yellow to all black which i think is stress....

I had a trio of these, I seem to remember the females were a yellow/creamy colour. I'll see if I have any pics. I think you have two males.

I would tend to agree with essjay and munroco, that you likely have two males. I too have had experience with this aspect.

Many years ago, in the 1980's to be more exact, I acquired a group of five Apistogramma bitaeniata (they were at that time known as A. kleii). As the weeks went by, it became obvious that I had a male and what I thought were four females. The male chose one of the females and they spawned and I raised the fry and sold them. In time, the male happened to die, and to my amazement, within a couple of weeks a male became evident from the remaining four, and he then spawned with a female. This was not any sort of gender change, but simply the non-dominant male(s) "in hiding" in a sense. In a much larger tank, or in nature, this wouldn't be necessary as the males would be more likely to find a mate and move elsewhere.

Essjay's second suggestion is also relevant, as cihclids must select their own mates. Sometimes we can put a pair together with success, but this is not guaranteed. The best way to acquire these fish is in a small group (if tank space permits) or sometimes careful observation of the group in the store tank can discern prospective pairs, though not always.

Byron.

Here are some better pics of my suspected female

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Better pics of my female

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Best pics i can get lol. They never stay still when you try to take a picture lol

Male and 'female' peacefully sitting together...