Carpintis

[AshKetchum]

I was wondering if anyone could help me sex these two carpintis they stay around each all the time and when i added the smaller one the bigger one would flare its gills and swim in circled around it. I'm thinking the smaller one with longer fins is the female and the bigger one is the male but I'm not too sure so that's why I came here

 

[duanes]

The profile of the fish in pics 1 and 4 look male, not so sure about 2 and 3.
Normally you detect difference in carpintus by profile, and a dark area in the dorsal, which is veru obscure in you pics.
here is a male, note the steep profile and lack of dark color in the dorsal

below a female in the foreground, with a less steep profile and bit of darkness in the dorsal


pair together, when raising fry both get the dark area in the dorsal

 

[AshKetchum]

mhmm. the smaller one seems to have black blotches on its body that can be visible but not in these photos cause it kept moving around. but the smaller one does have a darker face than the bigger one and the body of the bigger one seems to be significantly brighter more of a yellow/turquoise color as the smaller one seems to have a dark face a small dark circle on the tail fin, but the bigger one has the small black circle on the tail fin but it fades in and out. I do notice when looking at the smaller one that it has a small area of black on the dorsal fin and some blotches of black on the body

 

[onefowl1]

What do you call larger and smaller with these fish? In pic 2 going by the yardstick in the pic that the fish is between 3.5 and just over 4 inches for size but that may be off as the fish is at a slight angle and towards the back of the tank not right up front against the glass. If pics 1 and 4 are the same fish i agree it appears in body to be male. In pics 2 and 3 both have the fish at an angle and blurred for detail so could be either sex as stated above. I have had extremely dominant females especially if they are bigger and I have males now that are passive around all sexes and to date never bred successfully but they are still small compared to what they will grow to one day. As for the dorsal fin spot ( thats up in the fin on the back not on the body) I have a 4" male supposed thai green texas that has it (not normal for males) and he is fertile because right now he has fri with a non faded red texas short body female 5" petsmart grade. So if both of your fish are under 6 or 7 inches while they are still big enough to breed if a pair they have not fully developed all their potential. My old now passed over ten inch true texas male had a very nice sized nautical hump on his head.

 

[onefowl1]

I have a 55 right now that has only males in it with 4 4" to 5 " rainbow cichlids, 2 green texas 5 " and 7.5" and 2 6" to 8" jaguar cichlids. Crowded yes but it keeps the peace though it will not be long and the jags will have to hang in another tank. Anyways the point is all of them take turns putting on their breeding dress and trying to court one of the other fish in the tank. Just wanted to put this out there because i hear all the time i think i have a pair because they are swimming together and one of them is displaying to the other or they are digging out a nesting spot. Now on the same note have a pair and all other fish in the tank may be at risk when they go to breed.