Exactly. The only guy I know of in our area just lost his female to the male, and then his male was killed when he tried to move it into a community tank. Such a shame, it was a gorgeous wild caught pair. JK47 has a dozen fry from them, hopefully he will get a pair or two out of them. I think it's kind of turned me off to them honestly.
Festae domestic violence...
- Thread starter David R
- Start date
Exactly. The only guy I know of in our area just lost his female to the male, and then his male was killed when he tried to move it into a community tank. Such a shame, it was a gorgeous wild caught pair. JK47 has a dozen fry from them, hopefully he will get a pair or two out of them. I think it's kind of turned me off to them honestly.
id say 2 of my 4 pairs are 100 percent compatible and can last a life together. but since its festae i know the risk of keeping this awsome fish. i absolutely love the male and female festae. ill keep them as long as im in the hobby wich has been and im sure will be a very long time.
Exactly, its the Amphilophus in them. People always love to or push the subject of having pairs together by themselves alone. What are dither fishes for?
The thing is dither fish will get devoured in a pair tank...so seperated them with a divider to give the pair some "targets". Oh well, I hear the same thing about Jewels too. To each his own.
The thing is dither fish will get devoured in a pair tank...so seperated them with a divider to give the pair some "targets". Oh well, I hear the same thing about Jewels too. To each his own.
I had the same problem with my motag pair they bred successfully about 10 or 12 times then one day I get home from work and hed beaten the crap out of her its been about 2 weeks and shes still hanging as long as he doesnt get through the divider Im sorry for your loss she was definitely a beautiful female
Sorry you lost such a nice Festae. I had a male kill one female and nearly killed another female before I removed him. He was always pretty pushy but once the females were ready to spawn he became a complete monster. He killed other siblings when he was much younger and smaller too. It was hard to part with him because I had raised him and his siblings from juveniles. But i was tired of the high aggression and killings. I eventually sold all of them. They are one of my favorites so I'm taking the plunge again. This time I'll know what to expect and I'll have options if I need to separate one or two. I'll be glad to get a pair but if I only end up with one that can mix with other tankmates, I'll be happy with that too. Balton777 keeps Silver Dollars with his Festae pair. He also had Clown Loaches with them until he sold them recently. I don't know if he lost any SDs or CLs while they were with the Festae pair though. I've always seen them in the videos and pics that he posts. My Festae tolerated nothing at all!
Exactly, of ALL my pairs they'll show aggression to each other then go and attack all the dithers or other TARGETS. Keep some smaller fishes in breeder holders, I have the carry your pet container that I keep a small flowerhorn in, and my big flowerhorn works on that.
I have 2 other pairs in another tank, seperated by a transparent divider. They show aggression towards their mates then realizes theres other fishes, "potentially" dangerous to their frys and attacks the divider, so the 1 divider is doing the job for 2 different pairs.
I have 2 other pairs in another tank, seperated by a transparent divider. They show aggression towards their mates then realizes theres other fishes, "potentially" dangerous to their frys and attacks the divider, so the 1 divider is doing the job for 2 different pairs.
Hmm that doesn't bode well for my plan of eventually introducing my male to a mixed community. Its a shame because he's a stunning looking fish, but just completely lacks the outgoing personality needed to justify keeping him as a solo specimen. Maybe some fast dithers like silver dollars or barbs would help encourage him out, I'd get to see him more if he was constantly chasing things around!
Do you leave the fry with the parents when they spawn? This was the first time I'd ever seen him being aggressive towards her, there was no prior warning. Would love to see some pics of the 14" male too!
I hear you there. My guy is not personable at all. In fact, I would not be stretching it if I said he was the least personable species I have ever kept. He may look the part but I agree that looks alone are not enough to warrant keeping a fish. Personality is a must for me, especially for solo tanks. Without personality and owner interaction you may as well just look at a picture mounted on the wall.
Now there's an idea!! He's in a 5' tank by himself for now, maybe I'll just power-feed him for the next 6 months and then get him mounted!
green terra, is your jag personable and interactive with you in a tank that size? jags and festae are my two favorites.
calihawk, festae aren't classified as amphilophus any more, they've been thrown into the generic ex-cichlasoma category for now
calihawk, festae aren't classified as amphilophus any more, they've been thrown into the generic ex-cichlasoma category for now
