Festae dominance

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doomiedee

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Nov 13, 2011
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Waterbury
I got three festaes . The 2 bigger ones that look to be males are 2" and the smaller possible female is 1.5" . The larger male witch is named scar cause of his back constantly chases around the other male . It never swims to the bottom or hides in the decor . It just stays near the top for a few seconds or minutes gets chased behind the filter. Its obvious scar is the dominant male but will the subdominant male have a chance at finding a mate or is his chances lowered cause of scar's aggerssion?

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If there are only three fish in the tank and two are male and one is female; I don't think the sub-dominant male has a chance. The female will see him as weak and will not be willing to breed with him, and will probably start picking on him as well as stress makes him weaker. No Guarantee the other two will pair up either if they haven't already, Festae are picky. Why not divide the tank into three segments with the female in the middle, without the second male cowering to the first you have more of a chance of finding a pair imo.
 
At that size you cant be too sure you have them sexed right. Itd give them a few more or atleast till they reach 3 - 3.5" to start determining that. But either way subdominant males can also be paired up if moved out and provided with females...
 
to be honest the only one im not sure of is the the smallest one it has really developed any real colors yet but it doesnt have as many spangles as the other 2 . the 2 bigger ones do look like males but then again i could be wrong about the "subdominant male" it might just be a female. thats why its not as aggressive as scar is.. i dont want them to pair together cause they are siblings but i will be getting a few more next week and maybe some more when next pay period comes around.
 
As both replies have instructed you, there's no way to certainly sex them at 2". Females can have spangles and males can bar up at that size. They often mimic the colors of the opposite gender as a survival mechanism. Once I had four 3" juvies and the largest 2 were females. But for several weeks I thought they were a pair because they acted very chummy and shimmied when in each others' presence. The largest of the 2 had all the characteristics of a male until I took the smaller 2 out and it matured. It then transformed and turned out to be a beautiful female. All four maintained spangling to 4.5". Then the larger 2 gradually lost their spangles. Don't get too carried away. It takes some time with Festae. They're not very easy to pinpoint at the smaller sizes. GL
 
thanks i know they change their look at will. scar does it all the time he has bars one second then the other its back to goldsh with light bars and their red tail.
 
Im not sure if you have any tank mates with these festae but you might want to consider it at least until they all get a little bit bigger. If you have one festae that's getting picked on and staying in the corner he could very well die from stress at that small of a size. Having another breed of fish in the tank will help with spreading the aggression out. Just make sure the fish you add is the same size or smaller. Just a thought, good luck with the festae.
 
cichlidsickness said:
Im not sure if you have any tank mates with these festae but you might want to consider it at least until they all get a little bit bigger. If you have one festae that's getting picked on and staying in the corner he could very well die from stress at that small of a size. Having another breed of fish in the tank will help with spreading the aggression out. Just make sure the fish you add is the same size or smaller. Just a thought, good luck with the festae.
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no there arent any other fish in the tank but the festaes at the moment . i will be ordering some more hopefully this week . hes been doing a little better since i wrote the post hes claimed the left side of the tank with the small "possible female" but we will see now that i have the trim for my 55 that they will be housed in till the pair reaches 6-7" then i will upgrade to a 125 or larger tank.
 
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