Help sexing Apisto Umbrella pair

[mr big87]

Haven't been on here in a long time, but recently setup a simple planted 20L and picked up a pair of Apisto Umbrella from the fish gallery. The guy there did his best to pick out a male and female. Having trouble sexing them as when they color up they sometimes look the same. Can anybody help me out here?

[mredman]

I can't see any differences. Sometimes, it is better to buy a group and let them pair up. It takes out the guesswork.

Mike

[morpheus]

pretty difficult to tell when they are young. usually with cichlids you buy a group and wait for them to pair off.

i dont have a lot of experience with apistos, but from what i can recall of this species, males will turn out larger with more extended fins. the males also will tend to be more blue in body color and yellow in face, and females have more vibrant yellow in the face/fins but not as much body coloration

not sure if you have a M/F honestly. in the first pic the one on the right may be a male with that body color. the one on the left i dont know. could be dulling colors

[ptran]

Agreed that it's hard to tell from the photos. Looks like 2 males.

[mr big87]

Thanks for the replies. I figured they were too young to tell. I know one likes to chase the other around. May try to add a few more if I upgrade to a 40B or 55gal or something, but in a 20L I'm worried about overstocking.

[ptran]

I used to have a pair of German Red with the small one always chase the other one around. I thought the bigger one was a female. One day the big one started to color up, and he was a male. LOL

[mr big87]

I used to have a pair of German Red with the small one always chase the other one around. I thought the bigger one was a female. One day the big one started to color up, and he was a male. LOL

Haha well I guess I'll just have to wait and see as they get alittle older!

[ptran]

I also had a pair of Red Fin Borleyi that were about same size. One with brilliant color while the other one so dull. I always thought they were a pair. Until one day I added a female, the other one now also color up.

[mredman]

So it looks like many males don't flex their muscles until the babes show up...
Mike

I also had a pair of Red Fin Borleyi that were about same size. One with brilliant color while the other one so dull. I always thought they were a pair. Until one day I added a female, the other one now also color up.

[ptran]

Yes, they were doing just fine until the babes show up. They flex their muscle to kill each other.

[mredman]

Hay caramba!!!

Yes, they were doing just fine until the babes show up. They flex their muscle to kill each other.

[vle05]

Didn't mean to bring up an old post but the apistogramma you got are not not umbrella aka borelli. Fish gallery sell them under that name but they are actually apistogramma sp. "Steel Blue", a hybrid apistogramma. The male are usually the one with more blue mark on the head and they tend to be larger than the female.

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