Sexing P. motaguensis

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Gershom

Candiru
MFK Member
Sep 13, 2024
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I’m new to the RTA species, but have been reading (I read Duanes excellent article about sexing Parachromis and similar).
It seems like some males keep bright female coloration for quite a while, but it also looks like the dark spots on the male cheeks are very reliable.
How early can I depend on those dark spots appearing? The largest of my group of juveniles is about 4 inches, with a big belly, IMG_2661.jpegIMG_2661.jpegIMG_2036.jpegand the colors look entirely female (no dark spots, but mostly bright gold, with orange/pink shades some days). Similarly, the other (smaller) individuals are showing no cheek spots.
When can I make a justified assumption that they are not male? (The pics are all the largest fish; different days).

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Thanks—that’s helpful. Do males typically go through female color, or just go directly from juvenile to adult male color?
 
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