Hi everyone. As some of you already know, I purchased two 4.5" festae a couple months ago. I am fairly certain that one is a female, and the other one is still unknown (Although I'm leaning towards male). The two are now nearing 5", but neither one seems to be displaying much color. Both tend to stay a brownish grey, with occasional stripes depending on mood. Every now and then I will see hints of orange, but nothing drastic. I was wondering how I can help my red terrors become red. I keep their water clean, but maybe certain foods could help? I heard krill can bring out the red in fish. So far, I've been feeding bloodworms and Hikari pellets. I'll post some pictures of them later.
How can I help my terrors become red?
- Thread starter Optimist
- Start date
when young there color can very alot males tend to be dark when young but try krill and a good quality pellet blood worms help too other than that the most important thing is water quality
That's what I was thinking. Post up some pics if you can for an ID. Also, I've had good luck feeding hikari cichlid gold and krill. Keep the water clean and try some dither/target fish to get them actively "defending" their territory. That should color them up.dbcb314;942963; said:
Thanks for the advice. They are 100% festae, considering I got them from Jeff Rapps. I can also distinguish between the two species easily.
I'm not doubting you or Jeff Rapps, but, for future reference, to tell between true festae and uro's simply look at the stripes. Having festae myself I know that the fish will only sometimes show their stripes, but when they are visible on true festae the first two stripes run together to form a "y" shape not present on uro's.
Anyway, to answer your question, I have heard that krill is a good option for coloring up festae, and their color will improve with age.
Anyway, to answer your question, I have heard that krill is a good option for coloring up festae, and their color will improve with age.
might be scared of all those pikes, dont realy know but i like female when they show ther breeding colours try brineshrimp or normal shrimp???>
It's hard to tell from those shots but it almost looks like you have two females.
The females dorsal will have an inky appearance to it, even when they're not colored up.
When the fish are that young, the females tend to stay drab unless there are some males around. Then the dominant female will color up.
Those fish look thin IMO. They need to fatten up. A good cichlid pellet twice a day mixing krill and bloodworms in a couple times a week.
The females dorsal will have an inky appearance to it, even when they're not colored up.
When the fish are that young, the females tend to stay drab unless there are some males around. Then the dominant female will color up.
Those fish look thin IMO. They need to fatten up. A good cichlid pellet twice a day mixing krill and bloodworms in a couple times a week.