Sexing Laetacara Thayeri

[Stijn1191]

There is very little information on the internet for sexing Laetacara Thayeri. I've bought a male and a female. But I would like to double check here with the experts the first one in the video is which I think is the female and the second one the male. He is a bit bigger.

 

[Stijn1191]

No one?

 

[MacZ]

Pass. Haven't even seen that species in the flesh yet. Only L. dorsigera and L. curviceps in the trade here. I could only go by literature, web and that bit of experience with the other species of that genus.

 

[anewbie]

I have 6 of them and i'm 90% sure one is a definite female and at least 3 are males but i can't really provide an explanation other than the markings and size are different. One of the issue is they don't exactly sit still next to each other when i want to examine them. There is a distinct difference in the pattern on the side. I don't know if this is sexual or something else - but the larger ones tend to have a solid black line and the smaller ones has a break in the line with a bit of a copper colouring - semi circle. Might just be sample variation or might distinguish male from female - not sure.

 

[Mike Wise]

I don't ID from videos, sorry.

 

[anewbie]

One thing i will note as they have gotten older tensions have risen and they are taking full advantage of the 10ftx4ft they have available. The two i think are female are still chippery go anywhere and no pairs have formed but the other 4 are showing a distinct dislike for each other.

 

[Stijn1191]

Here are some photos, they are hard to photograph. The male has a brighter yellow on his top fin + it's longer than the other fish. Furthermore the male has a red/purple-ish glow close to his dorsal fin towards it's belly. On the photo's you can see nicely the fluorescent blue/green around their gills

On the photo's the female is looking more stressed (dark) than she normally does, because I've been feeding them to get them to the front of the glass and the male was chasing her away from the food.

Male i presume:

Female I presume:

 

[Apistoguy52]

If the explanation in CA 1 is reasonably correct…”the soft-rayed section of the dorsal fin is enlarged and pointed in males, but usually rounded or only minimally pointed in females”…I’d wager both fish are male.

 

[Stijn1191]

Hmm I also saw that, but for example, look at this video. Both have pointed dosal fins but they lay eggs.

 

[Mike Wise]

I can't say anything from your photos but the photo from the start of the YouTube video shows the obvious sexual differences. Male at the front is more elongate and the dorsal fin extends farther back (to the back of the caudal). The female is more stocky and the dorsal fin does not extend as far back in comparison to the caudal fin.

 

[Bob Dixon]

The dorsal threads on fish one are really long. It may be a male that hasn't colored up because of the presence of the dominant one.- I see two options. Either wait until the little one shows and ovipositor, which may take a long time or even prove fruitless, or separate them into 2 tanks and see if the smaller one gets the black spot in the middle. I'll bet a Reese's Cup that you have two males.

 

[Stijn1191]

Both have about the same size dorsal threads now. And as for as I know, Laetacara thayeri always have the black spot right? (they both have them at home, but also in the video example above which aren't mine)