5 months later? Festae sex?

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xEchOx

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 2, 2006
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So its been almost 5 months since I've given an update on my 'Little Devil'. Thats what I've decided to call her... or him, still not sure what sex this fish is. Since she took to pellets, raising this fish has been gravy. Extremely hardy and a good appetite. Once she started to bulk up a bit I noticed she started really shredding the pleco. So I basically take it out every week or so to let its fins heal, and then toss him back in there. They are quite the pair. The pleco doesn't back down. He spreads his pectoral bones out wide and sways at her, but she always gets the best of him being so much faster and having teeth and whatnot.
Last month I started to wonder when she would really begin to color up. She had some decent size on her, was being fed a few times daily, but wasn't like the other festae I see pics of on the net (and still isn't). I figured she lacked stimulation and needed cichild interaction. So I decided to plop her into the 125g with my oscar and firemouth. Bad idea. At first, the FM was chasing her around flaring and nipping at her. I decided to turn off the lights and hope things would settle. The next morning I couldn't find the firemouth. He was tucked waaaay up underneath one of the filter intakes and badly beaten. I'm surprised he lived. She colored up after that though. :roll:
Well enough babbling. Here's my girl? Little Devil.
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Hard to tell, but I'd guess female.
 
is it stressed out in that picture? the main thing to look for is alot of blue spangling on the sides if it has that then its male if not its most likely female but yeah the really nice super bright reds that you see on here are their breeding dress when they are with a male but even without a male they should still get a nice red to them (just not as :WHOA:) lol
 
She didn't appear to be stressed when I was taking pictures no. There doesn't appear to be much blue spangling on her anywhere, but when I last posted, the majority voted male so I thought I'd try again. Thanks for your input.

Others?
 
oh ok i just asked because the only time iv really seen festaes stripes be that faded was when they were stressed out but maybe thats just how yours is, and if there is no blue spangling at all then most likely its a cross dressing female how big is it again?

oh and fish addict those pics are of them when they are in their breeding colors the male looks quite different when not breeding and the female is not as bright usually and see how the male has blue spangling all down his side, the one in echos pic does look like it might have blue on the sides but im not sure from the pics
 
here is a good pic of a large pair not in breeding colors

 
Right now I'd say she's getting close to 6 inches... probably 5.5 inches or so.
 
oh ok yeah if its that size and looks like that then most likely it is a male i would think
 
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