Festae Journal: Growing out a group of young festae

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philipraposo1982

philipraposo1982

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MFK Member
Feb 21, 2016
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Cambridge, Ontario
Hi MFK,

Today marks a big day for me as a fish keeper and I wanted to share this process with you all. I know there is a lot of great advice here ad look forward to all your helpful tips along the way.

The end goal is to have either a pair or a single specimen from this group depending on how things go. But I'm learning more towards just a solo fish as I don't want to deal with the breeding headaches. The group is young, really young.. but they are definitely growing like weeds. Currently in a 75g but will be moving to a much larger tank as needed. Seems like every other day I can notice a difference in their size, more so with the larger dominant ones. Its pretty crazy watching 1-1.5" claiming territories in the tank. I figured they would be grouped together at this age in more of a survival mode.

Any ideas on what size I will be able to sex these guys? Also, how long before these fish reach over 12-14"?

Any other advice on raising them would be awesome.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Pictures are coming, I am working on getting a few decent ones to put up here in a bit.
 
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a little update.

Just sold 7 of the 8 fish as I found the ones I wanted to keep and grow out. 99% its a male and a stunner at that. The aggression between the group was starting to build and more torn fins and such were showing up daily. Originally was hoping to get there larger before making my final pick but I decided it was best for my fish to split them up now.

Locally we don't have many festae so they were an easy sell and made more than double what I payed for a few months of owing them up.
 
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philipraposo1982 said:
a little update.

Just sold 7 of the 8 fish as I found the ones I wanted to keep and grow out. 99% its a male and a stunner at that. The aggression between the group was starting to build and more torn fins and such were showing up daily. Originally was hoping to get there larger before making my final pick but I decided it was best for my fish to split them up now.

Locally we don't have many festae so they were an easy sell and made more than double what I payed for a few months of owing them up.
Click to expand...

If you get any more i be interested in a pair...
 
How big did they get before they started ripping on each other?

I'm doing the same, growing up a group of 6 M. festae just until they are old enough to sex and then selling off the males and extra females. My gut tells me I have 2 males and 4 females but they need to grow more to be certain of that.

They are only about 1.5 - 2 inches and already squabbling over food. Fortunately I gave each one its own coconut hut or flower pot and each has chosen one to call home. They are otherwise peaceful when it's not meal time. At first they did school together for protection but then quickly established their own residences.

I have decided, however, that there's no way in this universe that I am going to put my scrappy 3 inch Jack Dempsey with one or more of those tiny RTs on even a temporary basis. He'd find out real quickly just how not-so-tough he really is, as would my rather nasty 4-inch firemouth with delusions of grandeur. :eek:
 
Pictures will come. I keep missing the right moments... Not an excuse I know.

My group was .5-.75" and at about 2" if when I noticed the real fun damage and body wounds.

Like your group they all schooled together but quickly each of them.claimed they spot.

I wasn't could of pushed it longer but I don't like seeing the scraping and wounds. I knew the male I wanted pretty early on and he quickly.took control of the tank.

Just started trying to hand feed tilapia. He loves it but yet to take it from my.hands.
 
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Great project, I once wanted to do this but instead of selling them I wanted to see if a festae community would ever work out, I know it’s a long shot but I thought it would be worth a try, based on what you’ve seen do you think it would work?
 
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Nope. They start ripping on each other even as juveniles. Sometimes mated pairs will even turn on each other.

My tiny ones are already starting to snap at each other at feeding time. I suspect it's all downhill from here.

Maybe someone has made it work and can chime in with details, but I think M. festae just despise each other too much to live in a species community tank. Many breeders separate pairs with a divider so they can't hurt each other. Usually the female comes out the worse for wear.
 
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