festae pairing up?

[balton777]

@ Balton777, Dude, That male in your avatar is a beast!

Thanks Rob, I appreciate the compliment.

What if I told you the 2nd link is a female?

I'd say you have a lot to learn about sexing Festae.
Look at the the spangling throughout the dorsal fin. That little bit of darkness at the forward portion means nothing.

Anyone want to take a stab at these links?

Okay experts, let's play Devil's Advocate.

Male or Female Festae?
http://213.180.95.58/artregister/artbild/c_festae01-rickard_hakansson.jpg




Male or Female festae?
http://www.geocities.ws/ilsm1234/Cichlasoma-festae.jpg

Male or female Festae?
http://www.cichlids.com/uploads/tx_usercichlids/user_pics/6698/6698____file_01_fish_005.jp

[/QUOTE]


The first two are male Festae in breeding colors and the third pic isn't even a Festae, it's a Uropthalmus.

The 4th link is just retarded, I think you made a mistake.

 

[VRWC]

What if I told you the 2nd link is a female?

Id say its possible, but doubtful and unless thats your geocities site, you have no way of knowing 100%. Id put my money on males for the first 2 links and in your next set of links, thats a uropthalmus in the first pic and a (like sarah said) tranny in the 2nd.

 

[convict84]

ok,so heres one to stir it up,the one in the pic above,its mouth is going red and under its head is really red,where is the first place they turn red?

 

[VRWC]

its never the same on every fish...there is no 1 spot where they turn red first.

 

[balton777]

Females turn red all over evenly. Not first on the mouth and then under the chin. Actually, a golden/greenish body with a red mouth is a male characteristic.

Ok, you've forced me to dig up a picture of a former female of mine.

Look at the dorsal fin. It's black at the forward half but also notice the aft portion. See the blue dots? They're only at the very back section of her fin. The ones in your pictures have spangling past that point. She also has no spangling on her caudal or anal fins. This is a perfect example of a 2.5-3" female Festae. She is the mother of my current male in my avatar.

 

[David R]

Interesting thread, the only thing I can really contribute though is that I have a similar age group of 8 festae and to me it only looks like one of them is a female, and she has a slightly deformed spine at the base of her tail! I removed her today and put her in another tank to see if it encourages any others that happened to be subdominant females to colour up.

Mine are quite dark and really shy still, although my tank has a lot more hiding places than it looks like yours does.

 

[bomillyiam]

Sorry. My comments got associated with the OP's pics of his juvies. I was referring to the 2 links I posted of the larger Festae.


I'd say you have a lot to learn about sexing Festae.
Look at the the spangling throughout the dorsal fin. That little bit of darkness at the forward portion means nothing.




View attachment 509765

Male or female Festae?
http://www.cichlids.com/uploads/tx_usercichlids/user_pics/6698/6698____file_01_fish_005.jp
View attachment 509766
[/QUOTE]


The first two are male Festae in breeding colors and the third pic isn't even a Festae, it's a Uropthalmus.

The 4th link is just retarded, I think you made a mistake. [/QUOTE]

 

[bomillyiam]

Id say its possible, but doubtful and unless thats your geocities site, you have no way of knowing 100%. Id put my money on males for the first 2 links and in your next set of links, thats a uropthalmus in the first pic and a (like sarah said) tranny in the 2nd.

Good call on the 1st, 3rd, and 4th links, though that doesn't have to be my Geocities site to have firsthand knowledge. I could have known the owner and had seen this fish paired up, you know. Anyways, check out this old article if you haven't already. That pic in the 2ns link was pulled from there.
http://bigguapote2.tripod.com/articlefestaesex.html

 

[Gatorxxx420]

Those are some nice looking Festae, one thing I've learned is just because you see fin slapping going on, doesn't always indicate breeding. It could be challenges for dominance of the tank. Which could also explain the coloring up.

Of course there are always exceptions, occasionally some females do get a little more coloring than others. Just like sometimes some males look more bland than others. With these, time will tell. I've seen a pair of Festae in person and the male definitely had more spangles than the female.

 

[glenbo]

They do look all Male.