Apistogramma Sneaker/Sleeper male

[cory]

Hi All,

Read a handful of posts in the forum that some bros acquired some sneaker/sleeper male instead of a pair.

What do you guys do when you have a sneaker/sleeper male in your tank (which was supposedly bought as a pair)?

Was pondering on:

a) Can the sneaker/sleeper male turn back to male & still perform its duty when put together with an actual female?

b) What will you do when you encounter such scenario? Sell off or just leave it in the tank?

Thanks for the comments & views.

[Jitticus]

a) Can the sneaker/sleeper male turn back to male & still perform its duty when put together with an actual female?

I believe yes. Once the dominant male has been removed, secondary male characteristics of the species will emerge, albeit my bitaeniata took 2 months to develop.



b) What will you do when you encounter such scenario? Sell off or just leave it in the tank?
Sometimes, a sneaker male may still be killed by the alpha male due to his "uncooperative" nature. Getting a female or putting in more hiding places will help if you're not much into getting them to breed.
Hope this helps

[burpz]

For (b):
Ask the nice boss at the shop whether can trade for a real deal female?

[cory]

Hi Jitticus,

Thanks for the great advice

So far have yet to encounter this problem, got to be cautious when getting new pair of apisto in future.

Hi burpz,

Maybe the boss of the lfs will ask you to get other 2 females to make it 2 pairs

[burpz]

Must gel with the boss more, maybe it might be possible...

[mobile2007]

I think the biggest problem here is to identify whether the female is sneaker or a true female, rather than what to do with it after that.

Usually i will isolated the "suspect" in one partition alone and let it develop into whatever sex. Once identified as sneaker, will let it stay there to further develop into a more macho male. They will still do their jobs, unless he encounter a more aggressive female. haha.

[cory]

Hi mobile2007,

Yep, agreed with you of the identification. Most of the apistos which were sold in lfs were contained in plastic bags with their stress coat on, thus causing difficulty to 100% differentiate their gender.

Only way to prevent this is to "don't buy when in doubt", but easier said than done when you saw a nice pair

[burpz]

So true, very difficult to resist the temptation. Still waiting for my pair in office to properly develop before I can properly differentiate.

[stormhawk]

I usually keep my sneakers all in my community tank. The young male bitaeniata that I first purchased as a "female" in a pair with my bigger adult male, has already developed the long dorsal extensions. I think of him as my insurance policy, if for some reason, the big male dies off.