Need Help Sexing Wild Cacatuoides

[jantan]

Hi!! I'm wondering whether this fish is likely a female Cacatuoides or likely a sneaker male?

I uploaded quite a few pics to hopefully give a better picture of what the fish looks like. Their caudal is round and so is the end of their dorsal. There doesn't seem to be any extended dorsal rays too. But is it normal for a female to not have black ventrals? Even in the picture where the front of the ventrals are slightly dark it's not really black and more faded.

(S)he's about 3.5cm in length including tail

 

[jantan]

These are some videos of how they interact with the male

The fish in question has a bit of yellowish orange on their anal fin, hopefully it'll be easier to see in the videos than the pics

 

[Mike Wise]

At 3.5 cm TL this fish could be either a young female or a subdominant male. Based on the length of the ventral fin extensions, my guess is that it is an immature male.

 

[jantan]

Thank you!! Btw do wild females ever have ventrals that don't have any black on them?

 

[Mike Wise]

None at all? I don't think so, but many show little except when brooding. On the other hand some males will also show minor dark pigmentation.

 

[jantan]

Ah I see, thank you for your help! I'll remove the little one when quarantine is over, he shows not even a tiniest bit of black on the ventral fins and when stressed out (like in one of the pics) the front of the ventrals turns a very dark blue but not really black. I threw back in the clump of hornwort after getting the pics so that he has a space easy for him to maneuver through that is tough for the bigger male to get into so that he'll be safe during quarantine!!

 

[Uncle.Ned]

female Cacs (and most female Apistos) have bright BLACK chest fins... males can have some color in the chest fins, but it's usually translucent grey or blue

 

[jantan]

Oops long overdue update but the little one turned out to be a female!