What is this?

**stormhawk** · 13th Dec 2009, 03:39

For the life of me, I just cannot positively identify this female killie, I purchased as a quartet from an LFS just a few hours ago.

There's 2 of the same type of female, and the other 2 were male australe Orange.

I'm beginning to think that this female, and her counterpart, are young female Fp. gardneri. Anyone else thinks otherwise?

**WildPERU** · 13th Dec 2009, 06:04

http://www.djramsey.com/tropfish/austfem1.jpg
No, I think it's a female Orange australe

Best,

**stormhawk** · 14th Dec 2009, 07:48

Thanks Brian. I needed another opinion, because the females are bigger than my 2 males. I've seen the picture on that site before I posted this, but the red "lipstick" boggles me. I don't remember ever seeing AUS Orange females having that marking.

They are gorging themselves silly on brine shrimp and almost everything else that goes into my tank at feeding time.

I don't expect the males to do anything at the moment, especially since the females are like a head longer than them.

**TyroneGenade** · 14th Dec 2009, 19:48

At first sight I thought female australe but the head is blunter and the fish looks "short". I still think it is an australe as gardneri are fatter and quite easy to tell from gardneri/nigerianus. This one may be a "runt" or deformed but should still spawn well.

**stormhawk** · 15th Dec 2009, 00:53

Oh it's not a runt. Normal sized but bigger than the 2 young males. I have 2 females of the exact same size, and they're roughly 4-5cm in length.

**TyroneGenade** · 15th Dec 2009, 17:33

The head and eye is disproportionate to the rest of the body which is why it doesn't look like a typical healthy female australe. This is why I say it is either a runt or deformed. This type of deformity may or may not be genetic. With good selective breeding you can be assured of having a healthy strain.