Female Borelli Dwarf Cichlid

I was wondering if any fish experts out there know whether female borelli cichlids can come in colorful forms, I supposedly have one which I purchased from the petstore and the owners said it was a female, but it has colourful worm like patterns on its head like the male and really does look like the male except it appears smaller. When I put the male and "female" togethor in the tank, the male's fins flexed out and he whip tailed the 'female' with his tail fin, after several exhanges the 'female' retreated as the male chased and chased the "female" around the tank, at this point I seperated the 'female' into a smaller tank. Does this behaviour confirm that she is a female, or is it territorial male Vs male behaviour????...... I would immensly appreciate it if somebody can answer this mind boggling question...

[Lisachromis]

I'd bet it was a smaller male. Females should be yellow and black. At the least, yellowish... (unless they are about to spawn or have just spawned, then they are VERY yellow).

[hogan]

it is definatly a male, that was just wrongly sold as a female because of its smaller size. Most all apistos are rather hard to separate when younger

[ALFA WOLF]

U need to be awear of that stuff when buying a fish. They tried to lie to me abotu the fish saying that the fish i wanted was another fish that was expencive so i just walked away and left them their when they had everyhting set up to catch a fish.