Are Red Terrors that bad?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Thank you guys for your insight. A dog can live in a small cage its entire life. But it dont make it right. And we see fish as our pets. So I wanted to make sure I had the room for a fish of that size. As for there temper it sounds like instead of claiming a pile of rocks as there area. They claim the entire tank. WOW. WHat a bully. LOL I guess there can be only one good looking fish in there tanks. As for breeding them. Even my Kribensis can take on a Blue Zebra cichlid when they have baby's I have not even seen the sucker fish on there side of the tank. So that part of any fish is something to be expected. WOW real bullys. LOL

I like having a selection of fish in a tank but I guess the Red Terror is not one that will let me have that. So I guess im really going to need to build that 10x2x2.5' plywood if I want to make up for the tank the Red Terror will want. wow. ummm I dont know

I guess I can keep 2 convicts, the 2 Jack Dempseys, and I dont know if the Salvini Cichlids will last with the other guys. I just learned they are on the small side. hmmmm

How long do you think it could take the fry to grow and I have to separate them from the crowd? LOL Ill get 5 or 6 of the little terrors. wish me luck on finding 2 that will pair up.
 
aclockworkorange said:
Most of the time, it seems like sooner or later the male starts beating on the female.
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My young brother once bread his so called "True" red devils and jaguar cichlids. I can recall him getting something I think they called a "egg crate" but it looked like that square plastic screen cover like stuff you see in office building light fixtures. And seporated one or both of them fish he had bread with that plastic thing somehow secured enough to stay in place.

My brother of a friend Jake has bread some Cichlids now and in the past. In face Jake was the one that told me to start doing 50% water changes every week. And all this time I thought 20 or 23% every week or 2 weeks was good enough. I have been fighting brown algae in the Kribensis tank.

Thank you guys. Looks like the Red terror is going to make me dedicate a entire tanke to just him and his mate.... If im lucky to find a mate. Thanks again
 
I have a male and female Red Terror/Festae in a 360 gallon tank with 3 Thin Belt Silver Dollars. I rasied the Festae from about 2" and they were find (the female being the most dominate between the two), although I must admit, I had rasied them up with other cichlids in the tank. I just recently removed all other cichlid with exception of the ones just mentioned, and now I have problems, the male Festae has started hitting the Female pretty hard, I will probably have to add a divider in my 360 gallon tank which is ugly tank wise... I really didn't not want to do that... However, listening to your post, you gave me an idea, I am thinking of trying to add about 6 male Convicts to use as dithers and see if that will help...
To answer your question, about the Festae, Most Festae IMO, are very aggressive, but how aggressive can differ, depending on the Red Terror's personality, tank size, tankmates, how healthy the Red Terror is etc... There is a lot of different variables... Overall in my opinion, I label them as very aggressive... I have a 360 gallon tank with very good waterscaping, and still have problems... My male Festae is about 10" and my female is about 8." Festae is one of my favorite Cichlids, because of color, personality, and aggressiveness. I must admit, I have never breed any, I came close with these two, but all of a sutton, the male start to hit the female hard mostly with he thinks I am going to feed them... He don't want to share the food... I hope my experience help anwser some of your questions...
 
By the way Kribensis4me, you have a pair of beautiful Festae :)
 
^^ I agree with Cichlidfever. Im no expert either, but I absolutely fell in love with them and decided to try housing one. I currently house the female in my avatar with 7 plecos, 6 SD's and a Jag, Freddy and Argentea in a 300. I started her as the smallest because I feared she might end up being the most aggressive and for the most part she is. My female jag pretty much runs the show, but she outsizes my Festae by about 3 times.

Will it last long term? Im not sure. Im hopeful, but even in and 8' tank I only have 4 cichlids and that's all she and the jag will allow. Id rate them as potentially highly aggressive and once she hits the 10-12" mark i may be rethinking my setup. She may get along with everyone just fine, but as she grows, so does her attitude....
 
Cichlidfever said:
By the way Kribensis4me, you have a pair of beautiful Festae :)
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The pictures are not of mine. I am going to get some baby fry. And the pictures of of the parents. I may be picking them up today.
(not the parents, the fry)
 
Ive given up on the idea of other tank mates. Ill place the 4-5 I may get today with the rest of my little guys until I see alot of fighting. Then the little Terrors can have the tank to them selves. As long as my 125g tank will make them happy and healthy I will give it to them. :/

[URL="http://"]Jc1119[/URL] / [URL="http://"]Cichlidfever[/URL] Id have a hard time dedicating such a large piece of furniture like a 300g tank to just one fish. WOW. LOL ya, Id say that whole issue is a good example of a real aggressive fish.

Its one thing for alot of Cichlids to have a terratory issue. Or if they are board, to have fun intimidating other tank mates. Or to learn who the king of the tank is. But Im fine with giving them there own 125 I guess.

They will be fine in my 125g right? I know a swimming pool aquarium is better and bigger is always better. But will they live a long time in the 125g or would they look like a dog in a cage?
 
This is such a nice fish. And as with the bad rep Pit Bull dogs get. Im going to enjoy giving them the bennifit of the dought. :grinno: :hitting:
 
if u have tankmates u shouldnt have a pair of them...they are like any other cichlid but a bit more aggro and get larger than most cichlids so will destroy tankmates.. your best bet is to get a single female with a bunch of other female cichlids (so she doesnt pair up with a diff species of cichlid) the same size and temperment and have a bunch of spots for each to claim as theres ..
 
So far some good advice has been giving to you about festae. You don't need a 300g tank to house a pair of festae. I keep mine in 125's maybe down the road ill give them 180's but nothing bigger for a pair lol. Also keep in mind that they aren't the fastest growers either. So gettin them at 1-2" will take them close to a year before they reach 5-6" and start pairing off. Basically you can keep a pair in a 125 for 2-4 years before really needing anything better. And funny thing is like clockwork mentioned, they are a specialty fish that take a commitment that most hobbiests cannot succumb to. And you usually don't see many people with their festae after a couple years. So definitely give it a shot and feel free to ask for advice and learn on the fly;)
 
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