Any info would be helpful!

[BIG_ONE]

Hey there ]\/[onsters! I guess I will be shopping for some young festae soon, 6-8 of them.
1. Will they pair out by themselves?(my purpose of getting 6-8 of them)
2. I heard that they are one of the cichlid that its a pain in the @#$ to grow them out(in another term, they take forever to grow) is there any truth to this?
3. What exactly would be the best way to decor the tank for a pair of festae to be happy?
4. Would red color gravels bring out more red in them?(and yes I know that many of us hates colored gravel)
5. Feeding? And what would be the best to bring out its color?
6. And of course many of us monsters favorite...how's the aggression level on this beast?

Sorry for the newbies question, it's hard to find exact answers around the net and I have no hand experience with festae's.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Freshwaterpredators]

Tank size will be a big factor with your project. it will help growth, aggression, and pairing. I would recommend white sand or brown/natural gravel. their reds wont really come out till they start maturing. you will see more gold/yellows to their bodies. the growth rate is different for everyone. my experience is with F1's they grew really fast; 1.5" to 6" in 6months. and Wild caught 3.5" to 6.5" in 6 months. and they will pair up if you give them plenty of space. I do better with larger tanks, i know of some mfk'ers that have kept in smaller tanks and did just fine. they should start maturing around 5" and you will start seeing colors on the females. Im sure you will get alot of other mfk'ers joining in on this to help you out. good luck

 

[Otherone]

I can give you my experience with Festae but it is by no means "the law". Many people here have had differing experiences;

1. - It took me 3 broods of 6 to get a Dom. Male and Dom. female to pair and breed.
The brother-sister inbreeding was the 1st attempt which yielded 1 Dom. female the rest histrory. Festae can be picky at picking partners, if they find each other defective in any way they'll kill it. 2nd brood yeilded my Dom Male who killed the 1st Dom female and his siblings. 3rd brood was suprising - the male mated with 3 females - he almost immediately killed 2 after hatching leaving the Dom Female alone for a few months to tend to the fry. After the fry were free swimming for about 2 months he turned on her - injuring her pretty good. He was removed til the fry was removed then returned and the 2 have been inseperable every since - they breed once more and I destroyed the nest. This whole process has taken about 2 and a half years.
Out of these 18 fish 7-8 have been rehomed some to fellow MFKers.
2- As new fry they take forever to get 1" at least mine have. After 1" they grow rather quickly to 6" then seem to slow down.
3- My Festae are notorious diggers. Their nests are usually 2 foot circles as deep as the tank will allow. Sand and clay in the water can destroy hung on back filters. Also Festae spit the sub out while moving it so if you go with rock make sure they are small or plastic this process can break the glass. I went with non-refeltive dark pea gravel when I moved them to their 150 gal.
4- In my opinion Red gravel would wash the coloration, darker sub makes the colors more definable.
5- A varied diet - I use freeze dried krill, brine flake mixed with supirulina, and massivore - carnivore when they were small.
6- Intolerable at breeding and mine are always picking on the other cichlids when not, they want the whole 5ft of bottom all to themselves. I will soon be rehoming the Jag,Salvini, and firemouth to their own tank. I decided to follow another MFKer's advice and use silver dollars and maybe a Dat. as the future tankmates. Bottomline the Dom's can be True Terrors and can be classic tankbusters. Mine are however fish temperment and personalities vary as much as their owners.