# General > Member's Lounge > Photography >  AQUASAUR's CICHLIDS shots...

## AQUASAUR

Hi, again!
I saw many Apisto's Fans here...
So, bigining with this my favorite American's Cichlid specimen - *Apistogramma Cacatuoides* 

Here is one of the males:



and it's my older male close up:



...the back half part of the body is not in the least impressive, though:

[/quote]

Now, would be nice to hear your opinion about - Is it a female...or not?

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## genes

One of my favourite fish. And once again, superb shots. The last picture looks like a male to me. However, on rare occasions, females can spot a truncate caudal fin...so..might be a female as well...confusing...  :Knockout:

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## benny

One of my favorites too! Especially the super red variant.

These pictures are all clear, crisp and sharp. It really allows the audience to appreciate the fish at a totally different level.  :Well done: 

For the last picture, the ventral fins are black. I would think that this is a female specimen. The shape of the head/mouth is less pronounce too.

Cheers,

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## leeruisheng

Nice photo and fish. Didn't know that the colouration of the anal fin looks like that. The first photo looks very much like a painting or colouring. Cool. :Well done: 

As for the last photo, I would say it's a female judging from her body shape.

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## benetay

Razor sharp pictures, one of my favourite apistogramma too. It was my first apisto that brought me deeper into the hobby.

Don't think i will be able to shoot such nice pictures!

The last apisto got to be a female with the black ventrals.
Fourth dorsal not extended, caudal not extended. A very seasoned female. I had one last time over 2 years and it is a beauty. From a teenage girl to a full growth mother.

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers!

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## trident

Hristo,
Superb photography, care to share with us what equipment you use and how you shoot them?  :Jump for joy:

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## genes

Sneaker males can have black ventrals too. My tank of what i thought was females actually produced another male once the dominant male died.

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## illumnae

I'm probably wrong since the pros have spoken up to say it's female, but I would say it's a male. the black on the ventrals do fade off to a bright blue at the tips, and i've seen sneaker males sport blue ventrals to pass off as the black of females before. also, the dorsal does look too long to be a female to me.

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## benny

This particular specimen is indeed difficult to sex. The fins are very typical of a male, with lyretail and extended dorsal/ventral fins. Even the first few rays of the dorsal fin is extended. However, selectively bred aquarium specimens are known to exhibit such finnage even for females.

Also, looking at the size of the eyes in relation to the rest of the body, it would seem to be a matured fish. That being the case, the mouth area would seem less developed than usual if it was a male specimen. If it was a female specimen, it would not be out of place. As such, together with the black ventral, I would suspect that it would be female.

Let's see what Hristo can tell us about this beautiful fish. 

Cheers,

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## Fei Miao

If that's a female, it's one great looking female, cacas are my favourite. :Well done:

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## pepe2403

Beautiful photos. *Don't* think i will be able to shoot such beautiful photos with my current skill and equipments. I think i seriously need to send myself for proper phototaking lessons.

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## juggler

Wow - the skill of the photographer made the male look so handsome. Superb picture!  :Well done:

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## benetay

> Also, looking at the size of the eyes in relation to the rest of the body, it would seem to be a matured fish. That being the case, the mouth area would seem less developed than usual if it was a male specimen. If it was a female specimen, it would not be out of place. As such, together with the black ventral, I would suspect that it would be female.
> 
> Let's see what Hristo can tell us about this beautiful fish. 
> 
> Cheers,


 :Well done:  :Well done:  Yes i fully agree. Thanks for the explanation. The lyre tail section is quite obvious, male development of the caudal fin goes out in a outwards almost 45 deg angle before a straight section. On the other hand, female might develop long lyre tail but not with a truncated pattern.

On the back of the dorsal fin, male fins are extended out whereas the female are closely joined. 

Personally it's best not to use grow able features to ID. Like i don't look at the long hair of a slim guy to be female  :Laughing:  :Laughing:  

My 2 cents worth.

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## iwishweallcouldwin

first impression would be a female.

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## AQUASAUR

Thanks for sharing your opinion about that, everyone
and I’m totally agree with your suggestion !
Sorry, I can’t help much with sex ID this Cacatouides…
I was thinking it was female also and its behavior was really like a female…
I kept “Her” together, during a few months, with the two different males – and nothing!
One day, I found “Her” just dead in the corner of the tank…and that’s all.
Actually, I had got through the years another females Cacatouides, colored and looking like this one.

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## benny

Hristo,

All your different series are very impressive. I think I will rename all your threads to include your username so that all our members can easily seach for your threads just by the title alone. Hope you don't mind!

Keep them pictures coming!

Cheers,

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## AQUASAUR

So, continue with a few photos of my Long Finned Rams - a young male Ramirezi and my older handsome RAMZES:

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## mervin

I am really at a lost for words mate .............

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## AQUASAUR

Here are two close up fragments of my Ramzes, just to see detailed His unique dresspattern:

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## doppelbanddwarf

Both your photography and your fish are equally STUNNING.

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## AQUASAUR

May be some of you remember Those Guy from my Christmas greeting card
(http://www.petshop-zoomania.com/Mix/...mas%20Card.jpg)
Here is a present close upand a couple of Art impression on that photo,
when I had trying to improvise and testing some Photoshop filters tools 

*Apistogramma Viejita*


an "Water color" filter impression:


and "Stylize" filter impression:

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## Wackytpt

Wow... interesting transforming of the same picture into different format.

Very nice

I like the water colour one.  :Smile:

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## doubleace

wow... very nice close up shot... photoshop filtering are good too...  :Grin:

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## iwishweallcouldwin

wow i like the water colour filter. very very nice!

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## doppelbanddwarf

Yes the water colour look is really nice, like a painting.

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## trident

What's that? New breed of apisto?  :Laughing: 
very nice water color effect  :Smile:

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## Aquaculture

> May be some of you remember Those Guy from my Christmas greeting card
> (http://www.petshop-zoomania.com/Mix/...mas%20Card.jpg)
> Here is a present close upand a couple of Art impression on that photo,
> when I had trying to improvise and testing some Photoshop filters tools 
> 
> 
> and "Stylize" filter impression:


This looks interesting and fun.  :Smile:

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## AQUASAUR

Yeah, thanks for the comments, folks!

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## AQUASAUR

So, I got only a minute this morning to get a few snapshots of These Fellows...
As I see now...their solid color is not easy to be captured...but anyway, I hope you'll like this couple:

*Lifalili Jewel Cichlid*

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## AQUASAUR

Here is a more couple shots of That Happy Family of my Red Jewel Cichlids...

The happy Mother with the Fry:


and a macro close up of the meticulous Father:

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## Blue Whale

Aquasaur, could you super macro shot on the little ones?  :Grin:

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## rage

Awesome Photos! Thanks for sharing.

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## AQUASAUR

A little update with my young *Red-Spot Severum*

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