That sucks. I ordered smaller fish from Dave's rare fish to save some money, he told me its difficult to guarantee all are males, which is fair. They are not easy to tell apart at 1 inch or less, even at two inches, some males will color up right away and some won't. I thought my red empress male that I got from them was a female even when he was 4 inches, he didn't color up till at all till around 4-5. I don't like buying online anymore because I don't get to see the actual fish I am buying. I go to stores, conventions and I check this forum to buy fish, they might cost more but you get to see it. Most people will sell 3-5 inch fish with color, for me that's better than waiting 6 months to grow out juveniles and find out you have a bunch of females.