Sexing Blue Panchax?

[cometcattle]

Can anyone tell me a fool-proof way of sexing these fish?

Do the males have a black dot at the base of the dorsal fin, or is that just the female?

Thank you.

[RonWill]

Welcome to the forum "what's-your-name cometcattle",

Both sexes have the dorsal dot marking, with the male's being more prominent and having more intense colors. Juvenile and sub-adult fishes don't show it well and are more difficult to differentiate.

If your Aplochelius panchax are adults, take a look at this page. There's also additional information on the spawning and fry handling.

Hope this helps.

[cometcattle]

Thank you very much. You cleared everything up for me.

[whuntley]

I don't know the significance here, as I think the basic question was already answered. When I looked them up in Baensch #1 earlier, the sex differences were cited as "slight." Added was, "Female may have orange-colored fins of more intensity."

This is so different from other members of the genus that I treat it with a bit of suspicion. However, Tim's picture had a lot of orange in the fins. Maybe a female?

Wright