Cichlids - please advice me

[Fishguy13]

Very nice fish u have there

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Cacatuoides is always a nice fish among the Apistogrammas and they are considered the easier fish to keep.

Make sure that they are a pair of male and female because it's hard to recognize the gender when they are young.
I read somewhere that some of the males will pretend to be female when the dominant male is around.

 

[Essjay]

I read somewhere that some of the males will pretend to be female when the dominant male is around.

They are often called sleeper males. I once bought a pair from a breeder which looked like a male and female for a couple of months. Then the female started to grow fin extensions........

 

[MissA.T.V]

Cacatuoides is always a nice fish among the Apistogrammas and they are considered the easier fish to keep.

Make sure that they are a pair of male and female because it's hard to recognize the gender when they are young.
I read somewhere that some of the males will pretend to be female when the dominant male is around.

Thank you, yeah they seem to be super easy going so far eating anything they've been given. Regarding sexing them, this has been on my mind for the past 4 days...I am not sure what they are. I THINK one is a female as she has black on the ventral fins, almost no orange on her caudal fins she keeps changing the colours on her body and she tends to dissapear in caves for hrs.

But the one I am confident is male is acting so much like a female, his behaviour is very submissive especially when he is around her. He is also smaller, she is like 2.5cm he is 2 maximum.

I think I have to wait because they are too young, they get on very well so far swimming together and nibbling non stop at some jelly that's growing on the drift wood. I hope they're not going to get ill from that becase day and night they are at that piece of wood pecking and eating that stuff.

I have attached some more photos if anyone that has experience with them wants to have a guess?

 

[Colin_T]

Male Apistogramma cacatuoides get at least twice the size of females and have lots of colour in the tail. Males also have a squared off tail that gets short filaments, whereas females have a found tail.

Young males can look like females so look for a round tail if you want a female.

 

[MissA.T.V]

Male Apistogramma cacatuoides get at least twice the size of females and have lots of colour in the tail. Males also have a squared off tail that gets short filaments, whereas females have a found tail.

Young males can look like females so look for a round tail if you want a female.

Thank you! Yeah I think they are male and female then. If I am to take it after tail shape the female has a round one and the male has more like V shaped one. The only thing that doesnt stand is the male is very small compared to her, but the tank I got it from the shop was having multiple males so maybe he wasnt getting enough food...I am expecting him to grow like crazy now that he doesnt have to compete for food

 

[Byron]

It is not the food competition that is behind the "sleeper" male, it is inherent hierarchy. I experienced this with a group of five Apistogramma bitaeniata (initially named A. kleii at the time) that I acquired in 1984. They were wild caught, and on the (correct) advice of the hobbyist who owned the store I acquired five; one he surmised was male, some female, so I had a mix. Within a very few weeks, the (dominant) male developed, and judging by their appearance and behaviours, the remaining four were assumed to be females. A pair formed and spawned, successfully. After some months, the male died. I still had the four "females" in the same tank, and a couple of weeks later one of these developed the male finnage and colour and then successfully spawned with one of the others.

The "sleeper male" as essjay termed it is due not to food but to hierarchy. In nature, the fish would have an immense area to spread out in, and it is not surprising that when one observes these fish in their natural habitats they are not plentiful, but well separated. In an aquarium we create an artificial space and there is no means for them to spread out individually. A dominant male in such confines woould easily kill any other male that dared to challenge him. This is how science avoids it with these species.

 

[MissA.T.V]

It is not the food competition that is behind the "sleeper" male, it is inherent hierarchy. I experienced this with a group of five Apistogramma bitaeniata (initially named A. kleii at the time) that I acquired in 1984. They were wild caught, and on the (correct) advice of the hobbyist who owned the store I acquired five; one he surmised was male, some female, so I had a mix. Within a very few weeks, the (dominant) male developed, and judging by their appearance and behaviours, the remaining four were assumed to be females. A pair formed and spawned, successfully. After some months, the male died. I still had the four "females" in the same tank, and a couple of weeks later one of these developed the male finnage and colour and then successfully spawned with one of the others.

The "sleeper male" as essjay termed it is due not to food but to hierarchy. In nature, the fish would have an immense area to spread out in, and it is not surprising that when one observes these fish in their natural habitats they are not plentiful, but well separated. In an aquarium we create an artificial space and there is no means for them to spread out individually. A dominant male in such confines woould easily kill any other male that dared to challenge him. This is how science avoids it with these species.

Cheers for thoroughly explaining that. I am just trying to figure out why is he so small, the tank which it came from had all the fish the same age (female which I have included) but he is smaller than the rest of the fish however 100% male. Was he a sleeper male? Will he grow lager then and overtake the female now that he is in my aquarium?

 

[Byron]

Cheers for thoroughly explaining that. I am just trying to figure out why is he so small, the tank which it came from had all the fish the same age (female which I have included) but he is smaller than the rest of the fish however 100% male. Was he a sleeper male? Will he grow lager then and overtake the female now that he is in my aquarium?

The size of an individual fish is determined by gender obviously, but not exclusively; genetics, environment, food...all can affect growth.

As for the "sleeper male," it may be that he will never attain the larger size. Thinking back as best I can after four-plus decades, I do not think the second male that developed in my group was as large as the dominant male that first developed. But I do not know if this is normal.