Is my festae male or female?

[bull230k]

I just got this juvie festae and was wondering if it was male or female. Anyone on here know? How do you tell the difference? Is there a certain characteristic feature that can distinguish male from female when they're juvies? Mine's like 3 inches. Thanks!

 

[sick_lid]

Only 3 inches? With the amount of black on the dorsal fin, I would say female.

 

[balton777]

It's often tricky to tell at 3" with Festae. My male had a dark black dorsal fin and stripes at 3" too but they went away by about 5". Yours looks like it could go either way. The dark black dorsal fin says female but the spangles on the body and fins says male. Give it a little more time to know for sure. Who's beating up on it?

 

[bull230k]

i bought it yesterday and they were in the tank with some big severems chasing em' around.

 

[Dale76]

Yes I agree with the others, probaly a female but hard to tell at three inches(I believe the flowerhorn vent method would come into play here?, not sure though)Nice fastea though for three inches, Severums should not be tearing its fins up like that though you know??

 

[Otherone]

I'm gonna agree with bolton looks male to me................the black on the dorsal looks more like barring to me than a solid black line ................ but can be too early to tell. My males always colored up 1st. By the way nice lookin' juvi.

 

[Toby_H]

I thoroughly agree it's to young to tell with confidence... as mentioned markings can and often do change as a juvenal fish matures...

To throw a guess at it now, I would say male. Toward the back of the black area on the dorsal fin you can see the aqua colored outline of the "dot", so I do not think it is simply barring extending onto the dorsal fin...

Only time will tell...

 

[fishluvr12]

Too young to be certain but def. looks male at this point

 

[Angler]

I believe it is a female.

This thread is useless to you because half say male and half say female..lol.

As mentioned, it is tricky to sex these at a small size.

 

[bull230k]

yeah guys.. thanks now i'm more unsure if it's a male or female! LOL.. i have a feeling it's a male though because watching the past couple days since i got him he's been aggressive with my male carpintis! would this make u guys think more likely it is male or could a female do the same thing? cuz my carpintis is quite a jerk and is actually backing down to the festae! LOL.