# How long before borleyi red-fin males show their color?



## DCEyeBiter (Sep 7, 2008)

My red-fin borleyi is about 3.5-4" inches and it has female coloration as of right now. However there blue areas that are starting to show in its face.... you can see them the best in the proper lighting..... does this mean that it's about to start showing its male coloration or do females have these blue areas in their faces?

About how how many inches do borleyis get before the male coloration starts to show?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

It all depends on what else is in the tank, and how dominant the fish is. I've seen fully coloured dominant males at 3"... I've seen some with little colour at 5".


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## DCEyeBiter (Sep 7, 2008)

Well this one is the only borleyi in the tank but it's the meanest thing in there.... its with a D. Comprissiceps, 2 C. mooris and 2 plecos.... it harrasses anything that it comes near...so i'd say very dominant. lol


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## bones06 (Sep 26, 2007)

Mine took quite a while to start coloring up. He is about 5 inches now and didn't start showing real good coloring till a month or two ago. I've had him since last winter early spring. He is really getting red now, and thats with a dominant Ngara in with him.


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## cichlids _killer (Apr 13, 2008)

yep hard to tell...my is 4in now w/o any color but when i got him about 2-1/2 in his face got a lil blue ...throw him in my 210gallon those fish in there all bigger than him ..he lost his color ..but i know forsure that he's a male ...hopefully one day he getting bigger and get his color back


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## DCEyeBiter (Sep 7, 2008)

do you know if the females get any kind of coloration anywhere? because my borleyi has a white belly also :-?


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