Have we figured out what makes fogos red?

[Hybridfish7]

I heard fogo can be found from red to yellow in varying degrees (within the same body of water) so we never figured out if the red was sexual dimorphism or a breeding dress or something. Have we figured out their "secret"?
I have a feeling it could be both, based off temensis' breeding colors, and the fact that male piquiti tend to have more yellow.

 

[Alexandboi]

Not sure. But I have three fogo. The largest one has a lot of red on its face with a orange/yellow body. The medium one has some red on its face and a green body. The smallest is has a yellow face and green body. They get fed the same food, in the same tank. The largest and most colorful one was the smallest of the three when they came in, but even at 4" it was definitely more colorful than the other two.

I'm not confident whether it involves any sort of sexual dimorphism, but I am also pretty certain my largest and more colored fogo is a male. Not too sure on the sex of the other two.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Interesting, perhaps it's a dominance thing as well? Something like the sexual dimorphism in nicoya convicts, where only females are grey with yellow and blue fins, but rank in the pecking order determines the shade of grey and intensity of blue.

 

[Alexandboi]

I think its a genetics thing. Either they are born with it or not. My most colorful guy was the smallest like I said. It got bullied by the other two. But it ate twice as much as the other two. And now it's twice as big and is the boss of the tank. So it could potentially be dominance. But I wouldn't know why he was more colored up even when he was tiny and bullied. I may have some photos from when they were smaller laying around on my laptop. Will check later.

 

[batamboy999]

In indonesia its really hard to get fogo