Apistogramma gephyra: A pair or is there a sneaker?

**Tony** · 28th Oct 2008, 22:54

Hi Bros,

Can you pls help me identify if I have a pair of gephyra or is there a sneaker? (see attached, the one that is more yellowish is the fish in question, the tail is rounded unlike the spade-like tail of male; but the finnage is very extended though). Sorry for the poor shot as I'm using my camera phone to shot.

Side track a bit a shot of some happy galaxy (mixed female to male, ratio 2:1) that I like to share for a happy dither combination in my apisto tank

**genes** · 28th Oct 2008, 23:07

First pic is a male gephyra. 2nd picture not so sure specie. Difficult to make out from the blurred pic. But looking at the extended ventral and the robust body, its a male for me.

**illumnae** · 28th Oct 2008, 23:41

2nd one looks male to me too. females don't often have the long ventrals and body pattern

**iwishweallcouldwin** · 29th Oct 2008, 00:33

I also think that the 2nd picture looks like a male. The ventrals are too long to be a female.

**nicktc** · 29th Oct 2008, 01:27

Do you have anymore pictures?

I put my bet on female because of the shape and redness on the tail.
Many wild females have very nice and long ventral, my personal experience.

**Tony** · 29th Oct 2008, 09:48

Hi All,

Thanks for helping to sex this pair. I'll try to take a better picture of the female. It's tough because the 2 have not been on good terms since I bought them from a nice bro in this forum and the female has been hidding all the time. The female's tail has been badly nipped and recovered, then nipped again several times. She is slowly showing nice yellow and blue with orange/red tail now so quite wasted if she die out on me.

**genes** · 29th Oct 2008, 19:44

Many signs thats pointing her towards a he. Hence the constant aggression towards the could be male.

**Tony** · 29th Oct 2008, 22:23

Managed to take another 2 shots at the "female" the round tail is now having 2 broken slits. Any chance it is a real female gephyra? Else what species is it? Thanks.

**illumnae** · 29th Oct 2008, 22:53

I'm probably crazy, but it actually looks like a male Ap. sp "Rio Mamore"! In particular, the 2nd picture looks like it has an extended front dorsal, which is something not found in agassizii complex fish

**Tony** · 30th Oct 2008, 00:01

I guess I gave the poor thing a good scare trying to chase it out of the rotala for a better shot. But check out the beautiful coloration on "her" after the scare. Any luck in breaking the riddle with this shot?

Her painted face and body marking looks rather close to my confirmed male except for the tail shape. Another shot of my male for comparison.

**EvolutionZ** · 30th Oct 2008, 09:24

i agree what yixiang said.. your "female" looks like he/she have extended dorsal..

**illumnae** · 30th Oct 2008, 09:27

This is the Ap. sp "Rio Mamore" that I used to have. They're not identical, but similarities are there. However, I have to say that I'm certain it's a male of another species and not even an Ap. gephyra.

**Tony** · 30th Oct 2008, 09:48

Thanks All,

Guess I will have to wait for a few weeks more for the coloration to improve further (hopefully will get easier to identify) and take a better shot for posting here to seek help to confirm the species again...

In the mean time will wait for more feedback and comment.

Hopefully in a few weeks time can find a bro who is keen to swap with me one one the male for a female of the same kind of my other remaining to reduce the chasing and hidding... chances are slim I think. Else will have to plant more and increase hideouts.

**EvolutionZ** · 30th Oct 2008, 09:50

bro, if you want to confirm if this piece is a female or male or another type of apisto, put it in another tank, this piece in the same tank with ur alpha male will act as female..

**Tony** · 30th Oct 2008, 09:55

Oops... I've just decommissioned 2 smaller pico tanks and giving them away for collection this weekend sigh...

**iwishweallcouldwin** · 30th Oct 2008, 10:14

Tony, nice male you have there!

As for your female, she's really looking more and more like a male of another variant..

**Tony** · 30th Oct 2008, 11:42

Thanks Bro Iwishweallcouldwin,

2 quarrelsome males is a tough nut to crack with one of them Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) hahaha... and I'm already thinking of hunting for a female too...