Festae Dorsal colouration

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jalepeno

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 4, 2010
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I bought seven Festae from Rapps a few months ago, and now some of them are getting a lot of colour. From reading I have gathered that typical, the main physical difference from females to males is the dorsal, on females it can be black, but a male Festae will never have a black dorsal.

My largest festae, about 4.5", has a black dorsal. I assumed based on how much faster it is growing and its aggression that was a male. Can young male Festae's have a black dorsal?
 
jalepeno said:
I bought seven Festae from Rapps a few months ago, and now some of them are getting a lot of colour. From reading I have gathered that typical, the main physical difference from females to males is the dorsal, on females it can be black, but a male Festae will never have a black dorsal.

My largest festae, about 4.5", has a black dorsal. I assumed based on how much faster it is growing and its aggression that was a male. Can young male Festae's have a black dorsal?
Click to expand...

Don't always assume the larger to be a male. In the last couples months I've raised some managuense and dovii and in each case the biggest fish raised to breeding size first was a female.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
My male had a black dorsal for a long time. May not be as pronounced as it used to be, I would need to look again. This would depend a lot on his mood. At a smaller size, say 3-5" it seemed to be as dark as the female at times. As mature colors set in and showed more the female black is different from a male. A breeding female black dorsal is much more solid than a males black dorsal at anytime. At least from my pair. From what I have seen in others this seems to be true in most cases. Some males will show nothing and others some black. My female outgrew 6 or seven Festae by a long shot. She was quite a bit larger than the male she is with now at a point, he has caught up since then. Up to 4 inches or so she was quite a bit larger.
 
Interesting. Perhaps my largest Festae is indeed a female.

I guess I will not assume the sex quite yet and let them grow while I observe.
 
I don't have very good camera skills. Here is a video of them, just the other day:

The largest festae is at the 15 second mark.

[YT]1F_AXPbyzzE[/YT]
 
No ideas on the sex of any of these festae then?
 
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