# Laetacara Curviceps



## adam79 (Jun 27, 2007)

I've had 5 of these guys for about two years , but have no idea how to tell what sex they are. I have never seen any obvious breeding behavior, but they have some pretty good hiding spots. So, who knows what goes on in their little realms. Two of the larger ones will take on really dark markings on occasion. Any one have advise on how to sex them?

Deadfishfloating, you must know. :thumb:


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Hey *adam79*,

Well first question I would ask is, _are they really curviceps_.

If they are true curviceps, the female will have a dark metalic dorsal spot about half way along
the dorsal fin at it's base. Male curviceps do not have a dorsal spot. Like many acara, males will develop longer ventral, anal and dorsal fin trailers, while females do not.

I recently bought six new curviceps. After they had settled in for a couple of days I began to question if they were curviceps. They look very similar to curviceps, but there were some markers on them that made think they may be a curviceps cross dorsigera hybrid. So I posted an ID thread on Apistogramma.com, and it turns out they are Laetacara sp. "Bolivien". I now have two mated pair, one in my planted tank, and one in a breeding tank, but no decent photos of them.


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## adam79 (Jun 27, 2007)

I've wondered if mine are true curviceps. Seems most of the Laetacara sp. are very similar in appearences. I will keep an eye out for that spot and try to get a photo.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Some races of curviceps have the male sporting a spot as well.


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## adam79 (Jun 27, 2007)

Here are three of the five. Its hard to see the dorsal fins, but it looks like 2 have a spot. What do you think? Curviceps?


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

They look like dorsigera in shape and color ... and that last pic it appears the trailing edge of the dorsal fin is still red instead of white which is how *DFF* told me to check for in young fish.


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Certainly look like dorsigera. Curviceps do not have the verticle bars on the rear half of thier body.



> Some races of curviceps have the male sporting a spot as well.


That is something I would ask Stephan about. From what Stephan has said, curviceps may not be as common in the hobby as once believed.

My new laetacara certainly show some traits of curviceps, the blue base colouring, and the blue trim along the dorsal fin, but also showed traights of dorsigera, both sexes having a dorsal spot and vertical baring along the rear half of the body. Becuase my fish exhibited both curviceps and dorsigera traits, I considered the possibility that they may have been hybrids. But Stephen is pretty confident they are a Bolivian variant of dorsigera that should be viewed as a new laetacara species.

It is possible that many of the locational variants of curviceps and dorsigera will eventually be considered new species within the Laetacara genus. Certainly there are more variants out there than what I thought existed.


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## adam79 (Jun 27, 2007)

If they are dorsigera, how can i determine the sex?


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