Female Festae-owner responsive????

[cichlid2006]

I've had to start a new tank up and i have downsized a little as well. my planned stocking is what's in my signature, i may add a senegal bichir by removing 2 pictus. im waiting on it finishing cycling.
now i know female festaes only hit about 12" and they can be uber aggressive and grow slow etc, so she will be the only cichlid in there.

im curious as to their owner responsive qualities. are they like saums (aka GT) in their interactions with their owners or are they about as responsive as a guppy?

i need to know as its a choice between a wild female festae or a gold saum. i have had a saum before so i know they are very owner responsive.
thanks for the help guys.

 

[orbit]

Never had a Festea before but over the last month my interest has grown huge for them.

I had a pretty good chat with Balton777 about his and what they were like. I officially want one now.

He will chime in on this, im sure, and give you some excellent insight on this.

Im almost 100% possitive they have owner responsiveness! Post pix when you get one!

 

[cichlid2006]

i will post pics when/if i get one.

one more question, are you able to have live plants or not?
its not a big deal but a tank always looks better with plants.

 

[orbit]

i will post pics when/if i get one.

one more question, are you able to have live plants or not?
its not a big deal but a tank always looks better with plants.

I truely don't have a clue. I would think they would tear up live plants but...

PM balton777. Hes the one that just bought the wounded female Festae. He knows a bit and hes cool!

 

[saltydog_1]

that's an awful lot of fish for a 60 gal. you may want to re-thnk your stocking and go with a smaller cichlid, unless you are certain you will be upgrading. the festae i have is owner responsive, not as much as the parachromis i have though. they do grow extremely slow as well, so that would give you some time to upgrade.

 

[cichlid2006]

that's an awful lot of fish for a 60 gal. you may want to re-thnk your stocking and go with a smaller cichlid, unless you are certain you will be upgrading. the festae i have is owner responsive, not as much as the parachromis i have though. they do grow extremely slow as well, so that would give you some time to upgrade.

if you look at the size it says gallons are missing as its bow fronted. the sizes that are there are the smallest rectangular dimensions. the bow increases the 16" to 20" at the middle of the tank. so quite a few gallons are missing. the proposed stocking will be fine in that tank. dont take this the wrong way but i just need to know about responsiveness not how to stock a tank, its not like im new to fishkeeping. a single 12" cichlid will be fine in that tank.

 

[Mad About Cichlids]

Festaes are not owner responsive compared to other large cichlids such as Midas, Red Devils, Oscars, etc.

 

[hairdog]

The festae I have was but for some reason has become spooked. He hides unless it is feeding time. I dont know if got bullied by another fish or what. He used to keep all other fish out of his third of my 150.

 

[Mad About Cichlids]

The festae I have was but for some reason has become spooked. He hides unless it is feeding time. I dont know if got bullied by another fish or what. He used to keep all other fish out of his third of my 150.

Just throwing this out there but it might be a health issue when their behaviors changes.

 

[balton777]

I truely don't have a clue. I would think they would tear up live plants but...

PM balton777. Hes the one that just bought the wounded female Festae. He knows a bit and hes cool!

Actually either fish would make a great pet imo. I've owned a number of Festae and only one GT in my fishkeeping days. I had a GT for eight years and he was very owner responsive and was even a glass banger when my wife came in the room. I don't know how he recongnized her but he did. My Festae have never been as responsive as that GT but for some reason I still like them better. You also might have to take the tank size into consideration. The GT was in a 55g his whole life whereas my Festae are in much larger tanks. Smaller tanks make fish act differently ime.