Panduro sexing

[skoram]

This was sold to me recently as a female panduro but I have a feeling it may be a male. Can anyone please confirm?

It may be worth noting that this "female" is housed in the same tank with a much larger male and they seem to be getting along well enough, though it has only been 2 days since I received them. I've even spotted them swimming together side by side on a few occasions. The smaller panduro could also be pretending to be a female to avoid aggression. For reference the male is about 6 cm long (2.36 in) and the "female" roughly 4.5 cm (1.77 in).

Here is the bigger male:

 

[Mike Wise]

How large are the fish?

 

[skoram]

How large are the fish?

The male is about 6 cm (2.36 inches) and the "female" is about 4.5 cm (1.77 inches).

 

[chris1805]

Is it just me, or does your male look like an A. Nijsseni instead of an A. Panduro male.

 

[skoram]

To be honest I have no clue. I researched A. panduro requirements before purchasing and had a very well established 30 gallon tank for them but know very little in the way of their identification.

I put my trust in the store owner for that but unfortunately he is not as knowledgeable as many of the people on this forum.

 

[skoram]

I should revise my previous estimation of their size. I caught both of them swimming near the front of the tank today and was able to place a ruler right below them. The larger of the two is around 5 cm and the smaller is around 3.5 cm. Here are some new shots of them:

The larger male seemed to be flaring at the smaller here:

Another shot of the smaller panduro:

 

[Mike Wise]

I could be wrong, but the 'female' looks more like a subdominant male. And yes, the bigger male in the last photo certainly shows the even dorsal spines seen on A. nijsseni and not A. panduro.

 

[skoram]

I could be wrong, but the 'female' looks more like a subdominant male. And yes, the bigger male in the last photo certainly shows the even dorsal spines seen on A. nijsseni and not A. panduro.

Thank you for the confirmation Mike. After Chris mentioned that my male looked like a nijsseni, I spent several hours studying photos and also concluded that both fish looked much more like nijsseni than panduro. In addition to the even dorsal spines you mentioned, they both have yellow hued caudal fins with round black marks that do not extend into the body (as opposed to the blue-ish caudal fins of panduro with longer triangular black marks).

So instead of a male/female pair of Panduro it looks like I got 2 male Nijsseni. Fantastic