Tips for raising a Festae

[Allison2012]

Hello everyone! I'm new here so sorry in advanced for my ignorance.

Here is a little background information:

My boyfriend (Eric) and I (Allison) bought a Festae Cichlid yesterday from our LFS (It is a Festae and not a Mayan cichlid)
Eric has been keeping fish for over a decade now, but this is his (and my) first Red terror, and we want to take every step we can to raise a healthy, happy fish.
Since this is our first Festae, we've been doing an extensive amount of research - trying to figure out the correct water parameters, etc. We've yet to read any concrete, stable, and non conflicting information.

We have a fully established 15 gallon tank to keep this little guy in for the time being with no other tankmates. (We have the funds to buy a proper tank for him when he starts getting in the 3" range, He is approx 1" right now.) We keep the water a constant 78 degrees, and we're feeding him "New Life Spectrum Cichlid Formula" food...as that is what the LFS has been feeding the little guy.

This guy does explore his environment much more than the occasional sulking.. but we would like to make this little guy feel more comfortable and educate ourselves to make his life better. Our questions are (vague nonetheless) as follows:

Could any Festae owners chime in and give us a few tips on how to raise this little guy?
Could you give us some tips on how we can reduce his stress and make him feel more at home?
Any info on proper diet (names of food we could purchase if ours is not up to par.)
Any information on the growth rate of them? (we've read nothing but contradicting claims of their growth rate, some say as little as a quarter of an inch per month, to as much as an inch per month... giving that the water is okay and they're fed well.)

Thank you for any information you guys could give us, and we look forward to being an active member of this forum.

(I'm sorry for not posting pictures of the little guy, I don't want to stress him out anymore than he is by being right up against the tank)

 

[Freshwaterpredators]

Well congratulations on your first festae the first piece of advice I can give you is that a 15g is too small for starter tank. Anything under a 29g imo should only be used for hospital or temp tanks. Temp as in only few weeks. I would recommend a 40 breeder or larger to start. First being they hold more water making it easier for the tank to establish proper parameters. I've seen too many failures raisin festae in small tanks.
Second, festae are slow growers so it could take almost a year before it gets over 3.5" especially if its kept in a 15g

Next is diet and water changes. Be sure to keep the diet varied to keep your options open down the road as some fish do become picky eaters. I'm not partial to any foods in particular,, hikari, NLS, and kensfish food is what i use along with some frozen treats. Water changes should at minimum be weekly and if your using the 15g then prolly daily... But as for most other questions there are plenty of festae threads on here if you use the search engine here on mfk. You should find plenty of decent reads good luck with your lil guy.

 

[Allison2012]

Well congratulations on your first festae the first piece of advice I can give you is that a 15g is too small for starter tank. Anything under a 29g imo should only be used for hospital or temp tanks. Temp as in only few weeks. I would recommend a 40 breeder or larger to start. First being they hold more water making it easier for the tank to establish proper parameters. I've seen too many failures raisin festae in small tanks.
Second, festae are slow growers so it could take almost a year before it gets over 3.5" especially if its kept in a 15g

Next is diet and water changes. Be sure to keep the diet varied to keep your options open down the road as some fish do become picky eaters. I'm not partial to any foods in particular,, hikari, NLS, and kensfish food is what i use along with some frozen treats. Water changes should at minimum be weekly and if your using the 15g then prolly daily... But as for most other questions there are plenty of festae threads on here if you use the search engine here on mfk. You should find plenty of decent reads good luck with your lil guy.

Thank you for the reply!


Okay, I'll purchase a tank sometime this week.. knew there was no way around that in the first place...damnit lol.
I was under a misconception that the 15 would suffice for the time being, giving that he's only 1" right now. I figured the little guy would produce a TON of waste, but I have the tank parameters under control.

I have been looking at a 75 gallon tank at our lfs to get him, just easier to take care of a smaller tank lol.

 

[Freshwaterpredators]

In the long run its actually easier to take care if him in the 75 if you consider all the water changes you would half to do vs just a few buckets a week in 75...

 

[Adamson]

Looks on craigslist for a fish tank. Or on forums such as this one. You will save yourself a TON of money.

 

[Fish on Fire]

If you want faster growth, you should feed him something other than New Life Spectrum, I get super slow growth on those pellets. Either that or supplement his diet with bloodworms, baby shrimp, etc; something a lot higher in protein value is what young fish of predatory species need to grow at their natural rates. If you don't really care about the growth rate of the fish then you can just stick to NLS. As far as stress goes, put a thin layer of substrate down so it's not just bare bottom, have some sort of formation for him to hide in or plants and you should be fine. Some solo fish will try to hide all of the time because they think that there's a reason why there aren't a ton of fish around them, that there's a big predator around or something. If you want him to come out and be active, you could try some dithers such as a school of tetras or barbs to get him comfortable.

 

[bomillyiam]

As Fish-on-Fire advised
I'd use Barbs/Tetras with Festae that small. Their excitement during feeding will condition him to know when food is around and that your presence usually means food. They are also great at getting uneaten food in the substrate.
I also wouldn't put a 1" Festae in a 75G. At least not initially unless it's a group of 20 or so. I'd use a 30-55g, with a few fake plants, a couple small pieces of driftwood, a small cave or 2, a couple algae eaters and the barbs/tetra's. All these are relatively cheap and easy to come by.
Petco is running their semi annual $1/g sale for tanks up to 55g.

Feed him live as oft as possible in addition to premium pellets/flakes. Variety is key, but live is optimal. He should be able to take live blackworms and adult brine at his current size if you can find some. Bear in mind that live blackworms have to be rinsed daily and kept refrigerated. They usually run about $1.49/portion. Or use frozen if live is not an option.

Don't sweat the growth rate. Fresh clean water and good food will take care of that. Make sure that as soon as he's big enough, approx. 2", get him on crustaceans with shells such as small mealworms, grubs, snails, etc and supplement his diet with them for his lifetime. Packaged Krill/Red Shrimp or fresh/frozen market shrimp can be used in lieu of live.

Good luck

 

[RD.]

Allison,

The owner of New Life International has raised more cichlids over the past 40 or so odd years than most of these kids will see in a lifetime. Stick to what you are feeding, and I wouldn't worry about supplementing with the "wide variety" of live foods some of these people have recommended that you feed. I haven't supplemented a cichlids diet in over a decade, and have nothing but strong healthy fish to show for it. I also feed NLS exclusively.

Good luck.

 

[bomillyiam]

Allison,

The owner of New Life International has raised more cichlids over the past 40 or so odd years than most of these kids will see in a lifetime. Stick to what you are feeding, and I wouldn't worry about supplementing with the "wide variety" of live foods some of these people have recommended that you feed. I haven't supplemented a cichlids diet in over a decade, and have nothing but strong healthy fish to show for it. I also feed NLS exclusively.

Good luck.

That's you, but 1st off we are specifically referring to Festae. And if you only have a decade or 2 in cichlids you are certainly a kid too. How much time do you have invested in collecting, raising, breeding Festae? Your advice is as dismissible as your cynicism.

The O/P sounds as if she is willing to spare no expense in raising her little charge, so she was given advice based on time tested experience with this specific species. You won't get a specimen like Archie{Avatar} on an exclusively dry diet. Processed foods contain by-products you have to contend with.

Anyone can own cichlids for years, and if given basic necessities most fish can thrive. But to achieve optimal health and reach full potential, certain breeds need diet supplementation such as live animal protein, peas, zhuchini, crustaceans, spirulina etc. Every cichlid does not have the same nutritional requirements. And not one dry diet covers then all.

 

[Fish on Fire]

Like I said, if she's fine with having her festae only grow to 4" by December then she can keep on feeding it just NLS exclusively. I've had painfully slow growth from NLS and nothing special coloration wise in my experience with feeding NLS to juvenile fish of any species that I've kept. That's why I don't really buy into that overhyped product and the claims that it makes. But if that works for you then you're welcome to it, lol. However, if your goal is to have your festae grow at a decent rate during its first year of life, then you need to supplement its diet with foods that are much better for its growth.