# Festae cichlid aka Red Terror



## hernandezbrittany30

Hello everyone, one of my LFS had these babies marked as Red Terrors. I've been trying to find real ones for a while and have seen a couple fake ones along the way. I've read all the websites saying how to tell the true ones from the fakes, but these fish are so young it's really hard for me to tell. I ended up buying one anyway because they were only 5 bucks, but I wanted to see if anyone with some experience on these fish had an opinion. There are two pictures of them while they're at the fish store, I couldn't get a good one of the one I brought home. He's so tiny lol


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## montellp

i just found my self a real one


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## montellp

you might have to grow one out to see if its real or not the lfs by my house had 2 tank wild caught where i got this one from and tank raised they kinda looked like the ones you posted


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## hernandezbrittany30

Yeah that is the plan so far, I'll just have to wait and see what he/she ends up looking like! lol


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## montellp

but it sucks when u think you have one and it turns out to be a myan


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## hernandezbrittany30

Yeah, we called one of our lfs to see if they had any before going over, and they said yes and that they were decent size already, so we were super excited! We get there and they were definitely mayans or something else, cuz they had NO red, no stripes that made a "Y" on them, and the spot on their tail took up their whole tail. But we'll have to wait and see, since the one I have has such a small tail you can't go by the tail spot or stripes since they're so light! If it's a mayan I will be sad


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## mrmann

The pics of the fish you posted are mayan's not festae...sorry


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## hernandezbrittany30

Why do you say that because of the tail spot? Just want to know for future reference


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## mrmann

Yes the tail spot is a dead give away. Festae tail spot does not go past the halfway point and mayans tail spot will pretty much cover the caudal peduncle. Mayans are also a pretty fish so it's not a bad thing to have them instead of festae.


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## hernandezbrittany30

Yeah that's true. I knew about the spot on the tail but since he is so small I didn't know if the spot was a good way to tell yet. I was hoping as he got bigger his tail would get bigger and the spot would stay high up on the tail. Because his stripes connect too!! That's why it was confusing lol


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## Flippercon

hernandezbrittany30 said:


> Why do you say that because of the tail spot? Just want to know for future reference


Another way to tell them apart is the bands. Myans bands will not intersect. True Festae will have two bands that come to "Y" .
Below is a picture of my female Festae, notice the 2nd band forming a "Y" with the 3rd one.


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## hernandezbrittany30

That's the weird thing, I know you can't see it in the pictures but when I brought mine home he got darker and more pronounced stripes since he wasn't in a bare tank anymore. And his look like they connect to make the Y! But his tail spot is still large. He has some red on him though. That's why I really can't tell.


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## hernandezbrittany30

Oh see he looks like the little on in the background. Is that one a red terror too? But mine still has the spot lower on his tail and he's only a little bit smaller


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## Flippercon

hernandezbrittany30 said:


> Oh see he looks like the little on in the background. Is that one a red terror too? But mine still has the spot lower on his tail and he's only a little bit smaller


The little one in the background is a Festae, the eye spot is a lot smaller on mine. In the picture its hard to tell because of the banding .


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## montellp

i think mine is male can u tell ??


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## hernandezbrittany30

Pretty sure it is. That person's is a female, and you can tell how much more colorful the females are. The males usually have super faded stripes like yours, the females are much more colorful. I want a girl  haha


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## montellp

males turn gold in color or yellow








not my terror


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## hernandezbrittany30

Yep they look very different from one another. that is a nice looking one! My jaguar actually ate the baby I had in there anyway today......lol


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## Flippercon

What a stunning male. If you notice the black in the females dorsal and none in the males, also the blue spangling in the males fins. Just small differences between the two. I have seen many that break this rule but its a good place to start.


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## HP2012Mac

Beautiful little guy! Such a great gold red color.


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## thanemesis

i love there color .. thats why i went with green terrors .. can i put a red terror in with a green terror .. and if so .. anyone know if they would mate .. think it make a very cool hybrid if it is possible


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## hernandezbrittany30

I would think you would have to make the red terror the boy since they're going to get so much bigger than the green terror. But luckily they're both pretty easy to sex....so if you get a boy and a girl all you can do is wait! But if your red terror is extra mean, they could hurt the green terror since they get a good amount bigger, but Green terrors are also usually pretty good at handling themselves. I've had one die though


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## thanemesis

i am now on the search for a male red terror ... lol ..


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## montellp

i have a female red terror in with my gt and the gt being smaller i didnt think he would be boss long beat her in a fight 
hers a pic of her


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## montellp

thats my male in the little pic thats my female in the top pic


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## FishFanatic245

love these pics, don't know much about these cichlids but would love to have some in the future


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## RORRET DER

Hello, I'm new to the forum and was wondering if anyone could positively identify my cichlid as a Festae. He/She is approximately 2 1/2 inches. Any Idea on the Sex/Age?







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IMG95201304229523270095249-1 - Copy by rorret der, on Flickr[/img]


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## RORRET DER

Sorry about my previous post, I hit "submit" on accident...


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## sumthinfishy

yikes, its full of ick!!!


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## RORRET DER

No ich, it's sand Lol! I thought the same thing when I put the first cichlid in the tank (behind him)... he's all clean now.


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## aFinFan

Is there a locality difference in male color.My male is not yellow more of a teal with red fins while female is the same as shown by Monte and Flippercon.????


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