How likely is a carpintis female without a dorsal spot?

[justarn]

Hey all, I think my carpintis is pairing with my male dovii, thought the Texas was a male though due to no dorsal spot.... hmmm?
They're cleaning a rock and defensive of it, maybe they are just confused but who knows, what percentage of females have no spot, ive read having a spot definitely is not a male but no spot could be either due to "some" females not having one..

 

[justarn]

sorry about the Mucky water just fed em, crappy phone pic too!-)

 

[Ihsnshaik]

I dont know the likely hood but its very possible! I had females I'm not kidding look like they're going to spawn together. 1 Female would lay eggs and then other female protect it. Then the other female would lay eggs a week later and the other female would protect it.

You'll know soon if IT lays eggs or not lol

 

[Frank Castle]

I dont know the likely hood but its very possible! I had females I'm not kidding look like they're going to spawn together. 1 Female would lay eggs and then other female protect it. Then the other female would lay eggs a week later and the other female would protect it.

You'll know soon if IT lays eggs or not lol

ya, I have had/have females that will pair up and go through the motions like it was normal. Convicts are notorious for this, and I believe my "pair" of Cichlasomas are doing it as well

 

[Ihsnshaik]

ya, I have had/have females that will pair up and go through the motions like it was normal. Convicts are notorious for this, and I believe my "pair" of Cichlasomas are doing it as well

It was a convict pair lol

 

[Kaliedoscope]

From what I've seen in mine, dorsal spots are mostly used for signaling a readiness to breed to male carpintis. There are several possibilities here, in my estimation.
1. The signalling isn't being used because the dovii isn't a similar species.
2. The dovii is the female (I'm not very familiar with dovii so forgive me if the gender is obvious in the picture)
3. The carpintis is a male, and so is the dovii, and the pair formation is a form of submission by the larger male.
4. The carpintis is female, dovii male, but the female isn't interested in breeding with the male, but instead going through the motions as a form of submission similar to #3. She may even lay eggs in this situation, as pair bonding is often used for other reasons than procreation.
5. The carpintis is female, and is not from a location that uses the dorsal spot for this kind of signalling. (This seems unlikely given the ubiquity of the signal among species, but possible as locations do vary in spawning coloration)

Personally, I would go by how the pair acts, paying special attention to subtle agression, keeping in mind that the aim in this pairing may be to prevent violence instead of a desire to raise young.