sexing apistos

[electric eel]

i was wondering if size is any indication of sex for some apistos(i know it is for my cac's and agazizi) specifically macmasteri and hongsloi(super rostrich).i have a "trio" of macmasteri but to me they all look a lot alike.two are quite a bit smaller then (maybe 2/3's the size of the male) and the large one has a lot more red on it(they are all the same age by the way) my hongsloi "male" is also much bigger then the female and has big rose colored patch on his stomach.she gets vertical black bars on her from time to time while he never does.i'm having no luck getting fry from them and am about ready to give up.i can't seem to get any good pics of them or i would post pics(i did post pics of 2 of the macmasteri)i'm feeding them live mosquito larvae and live daphnia magna with ocassional blackworms and bbs(and some flake for the macmasteri the hongsloi don't like it though)the water temp(80f) and parameters are good(been using rainwater on these guys not r/o)any suggestions would be very much apreciated.there is a lot of cover in both tanks(20 longs) coconut shells,driftwood and little oak leaf "trees" that i stuck down in the sand.i did see the honsloi doing what looked like a mating dance once but by and large the bigger one is mean to the smaller one.

 

[a.d.wood]

As always, pictures are a great help. We can then point out the specific features on your fish that will help you with sexing them.

As a general guide, apart from the larger size and brighter coloration of males have a look at the trailing ventral fins of your fish. Females will have a distinctive leading black edge to them. Also during brood care (and the lead up to it), females will take on a brilliant yellow colour with black body markings that now stand out very vividly.

Be careful, the presence of colour on the body/fins of domestic strains of Apisto's (eg triple red cac's etc) is not the usual indication of a male fish, increasingly you can find females showing (ok to a lesser extent) these colors as well.

Andrew