Festae male or female?

[utku982]

I got 4 festaes from the same breeding and need to find out their gender. Any comments appriciated.
The biggest one. about 5-6 inches. Territorial and digging its owned area.

This one is about 5 inches. Territorial digging its own area.

4 inches

Little bit smaller than 4 inches

 

[Reiner]

I think 1 and 2 are female. 3 could have the best chance of being male but lighting is not very good so the fish is hard to see. 4 is entirely to young

 

[utku982]

I thought that the bigger and coloured up 2 fish are both males becouse they grow faster and have high body. However they are showing the colors of a charecteristic female. Third 1, when was not stressed showed greenish colors on body so its possible to be male.

 

[cichlidsickness]

First 2 pics are female, 3rd pic is male, 4th is female.

If you notice the tail spangling, the 3rd one is the only one that is retaining all of it which implies male.

All the others are losing the spangling which happens to females around the 4 inch mark.

These are not the only indicators of course, the more obvious is the colors. But because the last 2 didnt have much color I looked for the spangling.

Awesome fish you have there BTW. Festae have not bored me yet. Even of they were as popular and widely available as Oscar fish, I would still prize them!

 

[vinod_uthaiah]

Yes I agree to the above posts..
The first 2 pics are female
The next 2 pics are male

 

[utku982]

Thx for the comments. Its very interesting that the females grow faster and being more dominant. I was about to sell 3rd and 4th. Luckily l was warned about that. But the females are so beautiful to sell too.

 

[vinod_uthaiah]

Dominant character varies from fish to fish.
Growth too is dependant on various factors , but in the long run , the males will grow bigger and chunkier

 

[utku982]

They grown up in the same conditions. But i think males must grow faster in general.

 

[duanes]

Seems to me growth rates between males and females of most cichlids is consistent, up until the point females mature and begin egg production. At that point the females energy becomes focused less on growth (at least temporarily), and more on eggs.
I agree the 1st 2 shots look female, and the 3rd male, but hard to tell on the 4th shot.
The dorsal has what appears to be a dark area (which is a female trait).
But in some cases, in a situation where there are 2 males and 1 is a smaller less dominant one, it may adapt female appearance as a protective strategy.
Once mature, male festae (as many cichlids of the tribe Heroini do) will often grow exceedingly larger than similar age females. Examples below

 

[Freshwaterpredators]

First 2 pics are female, 3rd pic is male, 4th is female.

If you notice the tail spangling, the 3rd one is the only one that is retaining all of it which implies male.

All the others are losing the spangling which happens to females around the 4 inch mark.

These are not the only indicators of course, the more obvious is the colors. But because the last 2 didnt have much color I looked for the spangling.

Awesome fish you have there BTW. Festae have not bored me yet. Even of they were as popular and widely available as Oscar fish, I would still prize them![/QUOTE


Yup.. This guy knows his Festae!! I agree 100% with the sexes