Festae; biggest wusses ever?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
David R

David R

Blue Tier VIP
MFK Member
Apr 26, 2005
5,056
259
346
44
New Zealand
We all know festae have a pretty nasty reputation when it comes to other fish, but how do people find them reacting to their owners and changes to the tank etc?

Mine have been really skittish right from day one. They were incredibly shy about eating in front of me, to the point where I still leave the room to let them eat, and would go berserk when I tried to catch them in a net. Out of the 8 juvi's I started with about 14 months ago, I now have a pair with the male pushing 7-8" and the female 6-7" and they are still quite skittish and shy towards me. Two weeks ago I pulled their tank to bits and caught about half of the clown loaches, it was quite an ordeal as I was trying to catch the largest ones for a friend to take and pick out a few medium sized ones for me to keep. Trying to selectively catch big loaches out of a group of 30 in a 6' tank is quite a mission!! The festae pair freaked out big time and hid in the top back corner of the tank, and for about a week after they would both head for the back corner when ever they saw me coming. They are slowly getting their confidence back, but still often hide in the top back corner when I am in front of the tank.

Any other festae owners had experiences like this? I've never seen such timid behaviour from large aggressive cichlids!
 
they are really smart fish its hard to get there trust what i did was hold a some frozen blood worms in my hand till they ate it
 
my buttikoferi is like this. even at over 10" Infact its bothering me to the point of just about being ready to get rid of him for a fish that isnt a giant puss
 
My Festae were only like that when they were young and small. The only other times that they became skittish were the immediate days following a water change. But after two days they were back to normal. It was weird seeing my normally aggressive fish so scared. I added a few more things to the tank for cover and that helped to reduce the length of time that they were shy and scared of me. Actually most of my fish tend to be a little nervous of me after water changes. Maybe your Festae just need a little more time to get over the fright of you chasing around the Clown loaches. I'm sure that wrangling 30 CLs and moving deco made quite the disturbance in your tank.
 
DavidR.
That's the typical Festae personality. Rarely do you get a brave one. This is not the first time hearing this. I've experienced a few and they are like that. there was one that got adapted about under a month. That was pretty quick but still wuss. Not like my FHs.

yes i agree they are wussy cichlids
 
I have a Midas who is a pretty peaceful community fish. But at least he is interactive with me! :) He always begs for food and comes to the front of the tank when I'm in the room. He just is not a glass banger or tank mate killer.
 
That's one thing I've also noticed about them. They're big and all but they don't really behave like other big cichlids, such as Midas, RD, etc where they'll try to tear off your hand.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom