Festae grow issues

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Nov 10, 2015
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So I've been trying to get my hands on festae for quite some time .. It was a real struggle.. So I ended up getting 6 from Jeff Rapps. When I received them the tank I was going to put them in a 75 I suddenly realized that the 4 inch red devil could questionably eat them so I had to jump through all sorts of loops in a small time to get a divider in there with them .. So now my question is how long would they be ok like that ?

Next .. I'm just looking any & all advice on growing out festae .. The do's the do nots ... All advice is welcome .. As with most people growing out I want to make the best possible fish with the fastest growth rate possible ..
 
Short of getting another tank I think you will have to make a choice on which fish you want to keep. Their is no way your Festae will grow fast enough to be safe in a 75 with a 4" devil & even if they did that tank would be way overstocked as it barely meets the requirements of a RD let alone a Festae pair.
As far as growing out Festae, i guess they are no different from any other american. You might want to keep dithers with them as they are a shy fish & you might get bored with them if you keep them solo. Personalty wise a RD wins easily, Looks wise, even a male Festae can be much better looking than a RD, but that's just my opinion.
 
How long they will be in the divided 75 gallons depends on their growth rate. Feeding and tank conditions are paramount. I know many of us do not have money at our feet. But you should work on getting another tank as soon as possible. Good luck with them.
 
Ok so to bring up my old thread,,, I ended up getting a 55 to put them in as a growout tank, but now the issue is THERE NOT GROWING! lol it seems like none at all , ive had them foe about 3 Months & I would think I would have gained atleast a inch ,, it doesn't seem I have gained a quarter of a inch, Ive been up on WC before you ask, I was doing 50% weekly now for the past month or so ive been doing 50% around every 3 or 4 days at most,, my nitrates are near Zero,, soooo any help or advice or ,,,,, ANYTHING?? would be appreciated
 
Keep feeding and doing water changes. My smaller festae seems to grow backwards. I just try and forget about it.
 
They are certainly slow growers. I got two 6-packs a few months back, one species were Parachromis the other Festae. The Parachromis up to about 4-5" easily grew twice as fast to that length. Lately with the fish approaching 7, maybe 8" they've caught up in size and seem to now be growing faster being the same size or bigger than the Parachromis.
 
Festae are the slowest growing fish I have ever kept. I think you are just going to have to wait it out and take the best care of them you can in the meantime. They are worth the wait in the long run.
 
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