Update: Just received my "TRUE FESTAE" Need some input

[jcardona1]

As some of you may recall, last week i ordered a "True Festae / Red Terror" from my LFS. Fish was supposed to be 5" and cost me $35. Here's the thread:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151950

Some were skeptical and thought that i would get a false red terror; uropthalmus aka the Mayan Cichlid. WELL, i just picked up the fish today and to me its pretty obvious that its a true festae, no question about. It has the Y-bar behing the head and the smaller dot on the tail section.

NOW, the million dollar question: IS THIS A FEMALE FESTAE???? Im leaning more towards YES, because it has the strong bar markings and i see this mostly on females. the fish is a yellowish color right now and is still acclimating. and i hope the answer is yes, but id still be happy with a male.

here's some pics, please bear with me. the pics are really bad, from a cell phone So, what do you guys think? True festae? Male or female?

 

[balton777]

It's shape looks like a male to me. When it settles in and gets it's non-stressed colors, if the forward half of the dorsal fin is black/dark blue that's a good indication it's a female. Very nice fish btw.

 

[jcardona1]

thanks for the input. i was looking at the dorsal fin for this coloration, but it looks like a grayish color right now, and has some red towards the rear.

is the color on the fin the only way to sex them at this point? that is, besides the obvious coloration of an excited female...

 

[balton777]

Just give it a couple of days to get real comfortable but I'm really thinking it's a male. The bars could just be stress bars from all the moving around. It's hard to tell, the fin looks kind of dark...

I'm a bad fish sexer btw lol.

 

[jcardona1]

haha thx man! well see how he/she looks in a few days

 

[tydus]

Yep looks male to me, but I am also bad at sexing fish. Do you want a male or a female?

 

[jcardona1]

well id like a female because of the colors, but it dont really matter to me, as long as its a healthy true festae

 

[Red_Terror]

We need to get you a camera... noise is crazy...

 

[jcardona1]

ha! i have a camera, but i somehow managed to get better pics with my cellphone!

 

[Peanut_Power]

Definately an Amphilophus festae! Congrats!! I'm definately leaning more towards male, just from looking at the anal, caudual, and dorsal fins. Females generally won't have all the spots and spangles in them, where as males generally tend to. Especially so around that age, and even more so as they grow.

You should be able to determine for sure if its male or female if it gets the telltale purple/blue/black blotch in the dorsal. Its unmistakeable. Males almost always don't have this.

If all else fails, you could always look up under its skirt. Venting is the sure fire way. Better pictures that have less noise probably wouldn't hurt either....