Red Terror: Friggin cross dressers

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

Fish on Fire

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jul 7, 2007
2,669
178
96
Visalia/Berkeley, California
Well, it seems that my search for a male red terror all these years was a huge waste of time. Remember this "girl"?

DSC00138.jpg


DSC00139.jpg


DSC00145.jpg


DSC03657.jpg


Well, it looks like it's a male despite its coloration. Something I should have noted was the fact that in the years of owning this fish it has never laid any eggs (I blow at venting I guess, lol. I just confirmed it today by looking at their vents and comparing it to the vent of the small male dovi that I have, all the same shape so I'm assuming that they're male.). :nilly: So now I have two male red terrors on my hands (the other one from thefishguy is only 5-6") good thing is, outside of some displaying to each other, they don't fight at all and both have perfect fins.

Question is, why is the fish's coloration like this when there has never been a female around it (makes no sense for the breeding dress) and it's the most dominant fish in the tank? For as long as I've had it, it has never shown the colors of a male red terror (well it has a slight greenish hue to its body, but it's mainly female in coloration). What could be the cause of this cross dressing? Diet? Genetics? Origin? The other male red terror is showing similar colors as well.
 
dude that really looks like a female to me. my male looked nothing like that. the blue on the dorsal, the lack of spangling on the fins. that HAS TO BE a female lol
 
Modest_Man;2840922; said:
Post up a vent shot. I'm highly skeptical that that is a male. And what's wrong with it's mouth?
You can see a bit of its vent in the shots(mainly first one). Its mouth has always been like that since I bought it, I assume it was injured fighting with another fish as a youngling (bought it at 4-5"). I'll try to get a good shot of the vent.
 
i still say female! ive never seen a male festae look like female or the other way around. vent shots for sure!!!
 
That fish is 99.9% female! Note the top fin- Black......males do not have black lines on the topfin at any age.......males are also Maroon Red not orange red.......also the males body will be covered in blue speckles not just a few scattered ones. Left Male - Right Female.

99.9% because someone on here told me their male had black on the fin
and in nature anythings possible.

Fish and Snow 054.JPG
 
Remember Balton's festae?

The RT in the video below is a male
[yt]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/z2WMjxCnNb8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/z2WMjxCnNb8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/yt]

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2532540#post2532540
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com