Festae Breeding tips anyone?

[Kribensis4me]

Morning ya'll. Anyone have any pointers for me and protecting as much as I can and finding the male and female pair?

I have a 125g tank with 20 baby Festae's born Dec 1 2012

The tank has a group of Kribensis baby's that were also born around the same time. I raised the kribensis and parents. But then found a guy with tons of Festae babys. So I sold off my Kribensis and add all 20 Festae babys. So as they start to get older. I hear there tempers are going to grow. I hope by having the Kribensis in the tank. It will make them "dither" or "target" fish. But how or what should I do to ensure:

• #1 I dont let them kill eachother
• #2 I find a pair out of the group.
• #3 I know as times goes on I wont be able to keep them all. I just want a breeding pair as a hobby. The rest will be sold or given away. (craigslist or MFK Market)

AQUARIUM DETAIL(s):
The tank that everyone is sharing is a 125g aquarium with a Green Killing machine UV Starilizer, Rena Filstar XP3, Rena Filstar XP4, a Bubble Disk, Pool Filter Sand, 3 large rocks, 5 live Java moss, amazon sward, Java Furn. There is a total of 800/gph filtering. And they have the common lights on for 8-9 hrs a day.

I have a total of 2 125g aquariums, and 1 90g aquarium I am ready to dedicate to the care of just this one breed of fish. And Today I may be picking up another 125g used.

 

[Kribensis4me]

My goal is to get a Breeding Pair. What I would like is to Buy more baby/young festae's and not deal with that whole Inbreeding thing. But at this point Id be happy with the whole inbreeding thing. Any tips or ideas on keeping these guys from killing each other before there is a mating hookup?

I read someplace that the easyest way was to buy a large group and just let the food chain take its place. And the last 2 will be the male and female. But I really dont want to lose them all. Just get a pair.

 

[cichlid_obsessed92]

They take a loooooooooong time to grow, more than likely if you buy a group the most dominate male will pick the most dominate female as its mate and then you can get rid of the rest if you want. I've seen them bred successfully multiple times but I'm not sure how long it takes to get them to breeding size, I've had 4 juvies for 5 months feeding high protien frozen foods and pellets and they have not grown an inch

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[Kribensis4me]

I've had 4 juvies for 5 months feeding high protien frozen foods and pellets and they have not grown an inch

50% water changes ever week. I hear it makes them grow faster. I dont plan on stressing about there growth till there anger picks up. I got 2 real small runts in my litter. Im sure down the road they will be lunch. I feed my guys almost every type of frozen food there is. They LOVE Blood Worms and some sort of Mysis shrimp. I got some NLS, Cichlid gold pellets, and Aqueon Pellet food. And rotate or mix everything up. Crush all there pellets and mix together. and feed 4-5 small feedings a day. I even watch to make sure they finish it all. Otherwise I make them weight and scavenge for that food. I just worry about how to protect as many as I can as they get older and meaner. They are F1 fish. So I want to make sure they have the best. Down the road I will keep one paired brother and sister. And 2 other guys and try to find the opposite sex to them. I guess thats all I can do.

Thats why im looking for more tips or info on a safer way to breed them.

 

[MTBjake]

They take a loooooooooong time to grow, more than likely if you buy a group the most dominate male will pick the most dominate female as its mate and then you can get rid of the rest if you want. I've seen them bred successfully multiple times but I'm not sure how long it takes to get them to breeding size, I've had 4 juvies for 5 months feeding high protien frozen foods and pellets and they have not grown an inch

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What's your water change schedule like? I picked up a 3" male on Jan 6, last year and right now he's measuring at just over 10.5" and he's been feeding on NLS, and Massivore and getting constant 50-75% weekly water changes.
Op, I think your best bet is to keep lots of cover and places to hide in the tank and seperate as you see aggression increase as they grow.


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[Kribensis4me]

I went from doing 25% water changes to 50%. I worry about the fish too much to do 75%. I think too much about our tap water and how much metal, rust, chlorine, and anything ells the water Co. Filters our water with. But a 1 pat tap water and 1 part old water every week has made me fish pump up fast

My festaes dont like them sinking NLS pellets. I may need to try one of NLS sami sinking maybe. . I hope I have not spoiled them on frozen. They love frozen blood worms and that over prices mysis shrimp stuff. But with frozen food. I get a cup, add some tank water. Toss the frozen cube in the cup, stir it around. And when its all melted. I pour it in little by little. Making sure they eat it all. As for dry food. I crush up a mix of the NLS (because I paid for the crud) that hikiri cichlid gold pellets, aqueon pellets... and after crushing them all up. I add them to a cup of tank water and srir it around. And then add it to the tank. I know I do a lot. But I got used to feeding them from fry.

Everyone in the world brags about NLS. Why wont my guys do anything but watch them sink and then swim back up staring at me like a kid not wanting to finish grandmothers special denture safe goolosh? LOL

Every feeding is something different. 4 times a day. They even love the container of leftover Omega cichlid flakes. LOL

Thanks for this info on breeding them.

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[MTBjake]

I went from doing 25% water changes to 50%. I worry about the fish too much to do 75%. I think too much about our tap water and how much metal, rust, chlorine, and anything ells the water Co. Filters our water with. But a 1 pat tap water and 1 part old water every week has made me fish pump up fast

My festaes dont like them sinking NLS pellets. I may need to try one of NLS sami sinking maybe. . I hope I have not spoiled them on frozen. They love frozen blood worms and that over prices mysis shrimp stuff. But with frozen food. I get a cup, add some tank water. Toss the frozen cube in the cup, stir it around. And when its all melted. I pour it in little by little. Making sure they eat it all. As for dry food. I crush up a mix of the NLS (because I paid for the crud) that hikiri cichlid gold pellets, aqueon pellets... and after crushing them all up. I add them to a cup of tank water and srir it around. And then add it to the tank. I know I do a lot. But I got used to feeding them from fry.

Everyone in the world brags about NLS. Why wont my guys do anything but watch them sink and then swim back up staring at me like a kid not wanting to finish grandmothers special denture safe goolosh? LOL

Every feeding is something different. 4 times a day. They even love the container of leftover Omega cichlid flakes. LOL

Thanks for this info on breeding them.

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Most fish, IME, seem to ignore NLS at first especially if they're being given other stuff like frozen food throughout the day. Remember being a kid and holding off on lunch because mom said she was ordering pizza for dinner? Same thing. I think if you stick with NLS as the main staple of their diet they'll begin to take it and benefit from it. But if you continue to give them frozen stuff daily, they'll just allow the NLS to go to waste and that's why frozen stuff should be given as a treat only.
As far as not wanting to do water changes at 75% because of worrying about water quality, I think that's a valid concern and it makes sense. Some people do smaller water changes daily so that they still achieve the large volume but water conditions aren't so stressful on the fish.


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[Kribensis4me]

Most fish, IME, seem to ignore NLS at first especially if they're being given other stuff like frozen food throughout the day. Remember being a kid and holding off on lunch because mom said she was ordering pizza for dinner? Same thing. I think if you stick with NLS as the main staple of their diet they'll begin to take it and benefit from it. But if you continue to give them frozen stuff daily, they'll just allow the NLS to go to waste and that's why frozen stuff should be given as a treat only.
As far as not wanting to do water changes at 75% because of worrying about water quality, I think that's a valid concern and it makes sense. Some people do smaller water changes daily so that they still achieve the large volume but water conditions aren't so stressful on the fish.

Thats a real good point. I tend to spoil them. I can feed them the rest of there frozen foods over the next several days. But when its all gone.

What? Just offer NLS and if they done eat it... then dont feed them till there next feeding time, and so on and so on? I hate wasting noney on fish food if the fish dont eat it. LOL can they go a day with being picky? All there food has that garlic in it. Even that aqueon food. Petsnart is even selling API (water test kit Co.) Food. And it also has the garlic in it. They are like paranah fish to flake food and frozen. Just not NLS

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