All of your pictures are from before she got dull... Can you post a current picture? With those trailers on her fins I'm questioning if it really is a she...
sent from my EVO 3D
sent from my EVO 3D
Female Festae lost her color and never got it back?
- Thread starter xinchavoc
- Start date
just as I thought water params are not too bad.
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 10ppm
amonia 0
PH 7.5
I still have no clue why she lost all her color? I might try moving her to my tank with other festae to see how she does? She would be the biggest does anyone think its worth a try?
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 10ppm
amonia 0
PH 7.5
I still have no clue why she lost all her color? I might try moving her to my tank with other festae to see how she does? She would be the biggest does anyone think its worth a try?
I think rather than moving her since she is already having some issues, I would suggest moving 1-2 of those festae in with her and see what happens
She's just being stubborn because she wants you to sell her to me 
lol
Nah, seriously, it could be anything. I know you don't need other festae in the tank for her to color up because I've seen it first hand - single female in community tank colored up all the time. Out of all the suggestions offered in the thread I think Freshwaterpredators' makes the most sense (mild case of internal parasites).
I'm not entirely sure what the bright red striped coloration on female festae means but from what I've seen, they only color up when breeding or displaying/showing off to either a male or other fish. I've read studies saying that these sharp bright colors on breeding cichlids might be a way of warning other fish, something like "look at me, I'm dangerous, don't come close", many other animals use these bright colors to put off predators (poisonous frogs, caterpillars, etc). A female festae in a tank by herself (where she is the dominant fish) won't color up at all, I assume it's because there's no need to show off for anyone. Based on that you could assume that an established dominant female festae in a community where other fish pose no competition will have no need to display the fiery red coloration. What I mean is that your female might have felt a need to display when she was smaller, but if she outgrew the competition and became the top dog, the need disappeared thus she went back to her regular color. I might be completely wrong but if she's not sick, the water is perfect and nothing changed except her size, well... you never know.
lolNah, seriously, it could be anything. I know you don't need other festae in the tank for her to color up because I've seen it first hand - single female in community tank colored up all the time. Out of all the suggestions offered in the thread I think Freshwaterpredators' makes the most sense (mild case of internal parasites).
I'm not entirely sure what the bright red striped coloration on female festae means but from what I've seen, they only color up when breeding or displaying/showing off to either a male or other fish. I've read studies saying that these sharp bright colors on breeding cichlids might be a way of warning other fish, something like "look at me, I'm dangerous, don't come close", many other animals use these bright colors to put off predators (poisonous frogs, caterpillars, etc). A female festae in a tank by herself (where she is the dominant fish) won't color up at all, I assume it's because there's no need to show off for anyone. Based on that you could assume that an established dominant female festae in a community where other fish pose no competition will have no need to display the fiery red coloration. What I mean is that your female might have felt a need to display when she was smaller, but if she outgrew the competition and became the top dog, the need disappeared thus she went back to her regular color. I might be completely wrong but if she's not sick, the water is perfect and nothing changed except her size, well... you never know.
