Help sexing apistogramma Cacatuides

[Sam Oplinger]

New here, first post. I have these two Apistogrammas that I bought as a male / female pair. Multiple pictures of a dark blue dominant male and a lighter “in question as to sex.”

I added a young female red from another source and now the first two don’t get along. I guess these two big originals are both male, maybe? Or on this forum I’ve read that if male and female aren’t into it and don’t pair because of music taste or whatever then male will chase the unwilling female away. I have two other tanks with male and female matches. They haven’t necessarily paired though. I don’t see any damage happening as a result of the two chasing one another around, but these things escalate right? Maybe I chance putting the little less dominant one with the other pair two see if clear pairing takes place?

Secondary question. If they ever get eggs to hatch do you think there’s any chance they’ll survive in community long enough to be scooped out to a safer fry tank? Too much in these tanks for me to re-home to protect their fry. And thank you!

 

[Mike Wise]

Hard to sex without knowing length of fish. Old apistophile once said (many times): a community tank is not a breeding tank. You might be able to siphon out some fry, but my experience is that raising them artificially usually is not successful.

 

[Sam Oplinger]

Hard to sex without knowing length of fish. Old apistophile once said (many times): a community tank is not a breeding tank. You might be able to siphon out some fry, but my experience is that raising them artificially usually is not successful.

Thanks for responding. They are equivalent in body size and shape about 2.5 inches with the darker blue fish having a little bit more length from its back fin. I’ve seen the slightly smaller lighter one fired up recently and it takes on about the same coloration as the blue. Not quite as dark maybe.

So, would the normal course be to set up a separate breeder for a short time and pick out a breeding pair, then after fry are independent, move the parents back to community? These are by far my most facilitating species but space is a concern and I like the community tank idea very much.

Can’t seem to post a video for the size, but I hope a link is okay to TikTok where I was able to post it. https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdPqVSWx/?k=1

 

[Mike Wise]

Females rarely grow over 2"/5cm SL. That being said, I believe that the 2 heavier-bodied fish are females.

The "normal course" (whatever that is) for breeding apistos is to provide a separate breeding tank dedicated expressly to them. Other fish are secondary, in that they are only there to provide a sense of security and reduce stress on the apistos. The fish in your community are definitely poor choices for breeding apistos.

 

[Ben Rhau]

Also, cacatuoides are polygamous, so they do not form bonded pairs.

 

[Sam Oplinger]

Females rarely grow over 2"/5cm SL. That being said, I believe that the 2 heavier-bodied fish are females.

The "normal course" (whatever that is) for breeding apistos is to provide a separate breeding tank dedicated expressly to them. Other fish are secondary, in that they are only there to provide a sense of security and reduce stress on the apistos. The fish in your community are definitely poor choices for breeding apistos.

Thanks again. So, hmm. You’re thinking they are both actually female and I guess my reckoning of both their size must be off. I put the lighter one in a different community tank because of their chasing one another around and will be setting up two dedicated cichlid breeding tanks. My plan is to basically have these extra spaces for breeding pairs of whatever fish have matched up. From there I can put the pair back in the community tank so the fry, once independent, can grow out safely. I watched a pair of agassazi in the same tank lay down eggs this morning. Five minutes later the pictured darker blue Cacatuides came by and ate the eggs. Alas. Like that veteran said “community tank is not a breeding tank,” right? I’ll do kribs in their own tank, the two agassazi that laid today in another and my pair of nudiceps in a third and final. Eventually I hope to get a good male candidate for Cacatuides pairing. So far this has been the most gratifying part of this whole newfound hobby for me. Hey, thanks again for responding with your insights!

 

[Sam Oplinger]

Also, cacatuoides are polygamous, so they do not form bonded pairs.

Guess I better figure out how to take that video down; best not to spread misinformation. Could swear I was read up on that and thought it’s what I was seeing. Just as likely they just made a strong preference within the group of candidates I provided.

 

[Sam Oplinger]

Guess I better figure out how to take that video down; best not to spread misinformation. Could swear I was read up on that and thought it’s what I was seeing. Just as likely they just made a strong preference within the group of candidates I provided.

Was not that hard to take down, thankfully.

 

[Mike Wise]

Females tend to be more aggressive toward each other than males with females.