can somebody confidently sex these c. salvini "chacamax" for me?

[JakeAlmighty]

xpost from the "Red Holy Grail" c. salvini thread!

"These are the three c. salvini "chacamax" I brought home - would anybody be able to sex these for me with confidence? I haven't dealt with them before so I just had to guess. a) top one male? he's bigger, more vibrant and was the bully of the tank at work. b) if he's male are the other two female? smaller, currently less colour. Not sure if these fish are all the same age, but we've been assuming they are.


The three remaining at work are another one who is similar to the top one (but slightly smaller) and two more similar to the bottom two. Should I change the combination at all? The intent would be to eventually form a breeding pair when they mature and to continue the chacamax strain locally, these fish are extremely rare here.

thanks! I will post this again in a thread for visibility. need some help getting to know these fish

"


thank you for any help. !

 

[terrorG]

Nice taste in fish

 

[Frank Castle]

either 1M; 2F or 2M; 1F.....not super-experienced w/ Salvini

 

[dan518]

Top female bottom 2 male, for a guess, what size

 

[JakeAlmighty]

either 1M; 2F or 2M; 1F.....not super-experienced w/ Salvini

Top female bottom 2 male, for a guess, what size

The top one is probably just over 2.5" right now (maybe approaching 3) and the bottom two are probably half an inch or so smaller.


so the top one is female? They may be different ages then (as the male grows larger afaik), I should probably grab the other one from work that looks like the top one to get a 2nd female.

 

[JakeAlmighty]

Nice taste in fish

thanks! hopefully I can get them to breed when they're ready so others can enjoy them too

 

[Frank Castle]

Top female bottom 2 male, for a guess, what size

So they are Bass-ackwards Nature again like Festae and the males are dull and drab while the females exhibit bright coloration? I forget who I was talking to when I 1st joined MFK about Festae (one of the Staff w/ a beautiful pair ) but we discussed how it so strange since normally in Nature the males have bright coloration to keep the attention of predators and lure them away from the camouflaged female and the nests/young/eggs while the females remain dull, drab and ....well, camouflaged.

 

[BastardFish]

First two female bottom one male middle one is ify but looks female from the one shot

 

[JakeAlmighty]

First two female bottom one male middle one is ify but looks female from the one shot

I see what you mean - the middle one does have what could be the beginning of the operculum spot. It looks similar to the bottom one right now, but I'll keep an eye on it to see if it ends up being female.

tbh maybe I should just grab all 3 of the remaining ones at work, let them grow for a while and then figure it out when they're a bit older. For the moment they all seem happy to cohabitate, so I can just watch for aggression developing and then split them up later on.

It's tricky, we won't be getting any more of the chacamax strain (possibly ever) so if I mess it up now it can't easily be fixed.

 

[BastardFish]

Nice glad you caught the reasoning for the comment you be surprised how many people think the only way to sex Salvini is a dorsal mark and a more red belly lol good eyes man. Those come from Joe ? They were very nice stock we sifted through them all last weekend some nice ones there. My bro picked up some fire glad to see people taking interest in them again they rock