First spawn: 4/25/13
Tank setup: 125 gallon tank, lots of drift wood, less than half an inch coating of black sand on the bottom, two caves, and one large clay pot.
Filtration: Ehiem 2217 and Odyssea 500 CFS Canister filters
Temperature: 80 degrees F
PH: 7.2
Inhabitants: Male Festae - Approx 10" & Female Festae - Approx 5.5-6"
Timeline:
The female was acquired from cichlidsoftheamericas.com in October of 2011. She was less than 1" when she was shipped to me. She was one of eight growouts that I received all were short of one inch. All were listed as wild caught specimens from Rio Tumbes (Peru). Only three of the eight juveniles survived the first year. Two were culled when they reach 1.5-2" due to major deformities. The surviving juveniles grew at an extremely slow rate until recent. Their fastest growth rate being approximately 1/2" every three months.
The male festae was acquired on 3/24/13 and was captive bred. He was placed into a divided 125 gallon tank with a pair of spawning Amphilophus sp. red isletas. Even with a solid, rock reinforced divider, the male A. sp. red isleta and the male festae constantly broke through the divider. The red isletas pair was sold off 3/29/13, in order to stop the fighting and make room for the female festae to be introduced. Side note: The male festae did not eat for the first three weeks in my possession and had me extremely worried.
The pair was introduced 4/1/13. They had to be divided after a few minutes together. The male was extremely aggressive towards the female for their first week together. The eggcrate divider had holes cut into it large enough for the female to pass through and was reinforced so that the male could not push it out of the way. The female would occasionally cross through the divider in order to eat, but would was chased back to her side as soon as the male noticed her.
4/15/13: After nearly two weeks together, I noticed the pair hanging out on the same side of the divider. To my surprise and relief, the male also started eating. I had been attempting to entice him with bloodworms, earthworms, and shrimp with no luck prior to the courting. The female would quickly sneak over to his side of the aquarium and devour any of the treats I had been giving him. The female had never been shy, but this week was the first time that the male seemed to be begging for food and would actively gravitate towards the front of the aquarium when I approached. I performed a large water change and (with my fingers crossed) removed the divider.
4/17/13: I noticed the vents of both the male and female (more so on the female) beginning to drop. It had been raining outside since Monday. I fed them a larger than average amount of pellets and turned off the lights for five days.
4/23/13: I turned on the lights to feed the pair and noticed their vents had continued to drop. Lights were on for 10-15 minutes in order for them to eat and then shut off again.
4/25/13: 5:00AM. I turned the lights to the basement on and peeked inside the aquarium to see the pair wide awake even though they had been in the dark. The female had laid approximately 100 or so eggs.
5:00PM: There were approximately 500-600 eggs in the clay pot.
4/27/13: Three or four eggs have turned white (unfertilized) the remaining look good so far.
Tank setup: 125 gallon tank, lots of drift wood, less than half an inch coating of black sand on the bottom, two caves, and one large clay pot.
Filtration: Ehiem 2217 and Odyssea 500 CFS Canister filters
Temperature: 80 degrees F
PH: 7.2
Inhabitants: Male Festae - Approx 10" & Female Festae - Approx 5.5-6"
Timeline:
The female was acquired from cichlidsoftheamericas.com in October of 2011. She was less than 1" when she was shipped to me. She was one of eight growouts that I received all were short of one inch. All were listed as wild caught specimens from Rio Tumbes (Peru). Only three of the eight juveniles survived the first year. Two were culled when they reach 1.5-2" due to major deformities. The surviving juveniles grew at an extremely slow rate until recent. Their fastest growth rate being approximately 1/2" every three months.
The male festae was acquired on 3/24/13 and was captive bred. He was placed into a divided 125 gallon tank with a pair of spawning Amphilophus sp. red isletas. Even with a solid, rock reinforced divider, the male A. sp. red isleta and the male festae constantly broke through the divider. The red isletas pair was sold off 3/29/13, in order to stop the fighting and make room for the female festae to be introduced. Side note: The male festae did not eat for the first three weeks in my possession and had me extremely worried.
The pair was introduced 4/1/13. They had to be divided after a few minutes together. The male was extremely aggressive towards the female for their first week together. The eggcrate divider had holes cut into it large enough for the female to pass through and was reinforced so that the male could not push it out of the way. The female would occasionally cross through the divider in order to eat, but would was chased back to her side as soon as the male noticed her.
4/15/13: After nearly two weeks together, I noticed the pair hanging out on the same side of the divider. To my surprise and relief, the male also started eating. I had been attempting to entice him with bloodworms, earthworms, and shrimp with no luck prior to the courting. The female would quickly sneak over to his side of the aquarium and devour any of the treats I had been giving him. The female had never been shy, but this week was the first time that the male seemed to be begging for food and would actively gravitate towards the front of the aquarium when I approached. I performed a large water change and (with my fingers crossed) removed the divider.
4/17/13: I noticed the vents of both the male and female (more so on the female) beginning to drop. It had been raining outside since Monday. I fed them a larger than average amount of pellets and turned off the lights for five days.
4/23/13: I turned on the lights to feed the pair and noticed their vents had continued to drop. Lights were on for 10-15 minutes in order for them to eat and then shut off again.
4/25/13: 5:00AM. I turned the lights to the basement on and peeked inside the aquarium to see the pair wide awake even though they had been in the dark. The female had laid approximately 100 or so eggs.
5:00PM: There were approximately 500-600 eggs in the clay pot.
4/27/13: Three or four eggs have turned white (unfertilized) the remaining look good so far.
congrats on the spawn. Just curious as to why you turned the lights off for five days??
