Ok heres my problem i have a 125 and am tired of having a single 10" Male Festae in the tank. I was wondering what other fish have worked for you guys now i know when they are small alot of things work so please only respond if you have an adult festae. I was thinking maybe a large pike since you know the whole different shape maybe he wont see it as competiton thing. The other thing is that ive always been taught to add more than one fish to an existing tank so that the new guy wont get beat on. Maybe i should just get rid of him and start the whole thing over what do you guys think?
Festae Question
- Thread starter Rob553
- Start date
I think the get rid of him and get new fish...ie...Pikes...
...would be a great idear. A large pike big enough to fight off a festae that size if gonna cost yaz a pretty penny. I would get another tank...move the male to that...then set up the other tank with the fish you want...then reintroduce the male festae...that would be ur best bet of it workin.....hes already established in that tank...and at 10" is gonna gaurd it from practically everything.
...would be a great idear. A large pike big enough to fight off a festae that size if gonna cost yaz a pretty penny. I would get another tank...move the male to that...then set up the other tank with the fish you want...then reintroduce the male festae...that would be ur best bet of it workin.....hes already established in that tank...and at 10" is gonna gaurd it from practically everything.What is the aggression level of this Terror? I have seen some adult Festae allow smaller Cichlids to be introduced to there tanks with little to no aggression problems.
I'd probably start over unless you consider your festae as too sweet of a specimen to displace or get rid of. Only immediate thought that comes to my mind for adding fish would be two or three large female festae. Might have to go on a treasure hunt to get em though.
Regardless of what fish you add, I've always liked the idea of rearranging the scenery in the tank to divert an aggressive fishes mind from attacking newcomers.
Doubt if that old trick would work though if your male is like SUPER aggressive.
I think that peanuts idea is the best bet. Put Mr. mean@ass festae in a different tank, stock your 125, put male festae back in later.
Oh yeah, don't forget to add a mammoth pleco!
Regardless of what fish you add, I've always liked the idea of rearranging the scenery in the tank to divert an aggressive fishes mind from attacking newcomers.
Doubt if that old trick would work though if your male is like SUPER aggressive.
I think that peanuts idea is the best bet. Put Mr. mean@ass festae in a different tank, stock your 125, put male festae back in later.
Oh yeah, don't forget to add a mammoth pleco!
There probably isn't a single answer to this question, you may have an unuesally agressive Festae. (although mine was pretty nasty). There are a few approaches you could try to this that may (or may not) work. Removing it for a few weeks and adding some new fish, allowing the new guys to get setteled in sometime works. Adding fish half it's size often works because the dominate fish does not feel threatened by smaller fish. Fish with differant shapes and color is a good idea. Radically re aranging everything in the tank helps.
Possible canidates for tank mates that I have had work are, managuense, Dovi, butterkoferi, texas or carpintis, Larger peacock bass, larger osphrenemus, I'm sure there are others. I had a 150 with most of these fish in it at the same time (I had a Dovi & carpintis but no Managuense or Texas) and had little problems for 3 years or so. The problem I did have was fish getting to big and had to separate / sell them.
In a nut shell, you will need to do some trial and error to get a mix that will work with your Festae. Good luck to ya....
Joel
Possible canidates for tank mates that I have had work are, managuense, Dovi, butterkoferi, texas or carpintis, Larger peacock bass, larger osphrenemus, I'm sure there are others. I had a 150 with most of these fish in it at the same time (I had a Dovi & carpintis but no Managuense or Texas) and had little problems for 3 years or so. The problem I did have was fish getting to big and had to separate / sell them.
In a nut shell, you will need to do some trial and error to get a mix that will work with your Festae. Good luck to ya....
Joel
I second most of what Ornatipinnis said. However, I would have completely different recommendations for possible tankmates. basically, I wouldn't add anything that will eventually reach close to the same size/attitude of the festae. I'd go with female cons or any sex of about any other Cryptoheros species. basically something that will get to the 6-8" range and that is semi-aggressive. this way it will never pose a threat to the festae so hopefully he'll just leave them alone. some silver dollars or a larger rainbow species might work as dithers.
I wouldn't spend a whole lot of money though on whatever tankmates you get because with an adult male festae you never know what will and what won't work. also, chances are you won't know it won't work until the other fish are dead. festae can dispose of tankmates very, very quickly. I once had to put a 6" red devil in my 125 with a my festae pair. before I go on I want to make very clear that there was a full tank divider in place in the tank between the festae pair and the red devil, but apparently the divider wasn't as secure as I thought it was. I laid down for a nap for a couple of hours and when I woke up the red devil and moved the divider enough to get to the other side of the tank and the festae had killed him.
I wouldn't spend a whole lot of money though on whatever tankmates you get because with an adult male festae you never know what will and what won't work. also, chances are you won't know it won't work until the other fish are dead. festae can dispose of tankmates very, very quickly. I once had to put a 6" red devil in my 125 with a my festae pair. before I go on I want to make very clear that there was a full tank divider in place in the tank between the festae pair and the red devil, but apparently the divider wasn't as secure as I thought it was. I laid down for a nap for a couple of hours and when I woke up the red devil and moved the divider enough to get to the other side of the tank and the festae had killed him.
Thanks for the advice im going to check out a lfs that carries larger fish but will probably just try an sell him. What do you think is a resonable price little 2" go for $15 out here if you can even find them.
If your Festae is in great condition, I would say $50.
It is a large, agressive fish to mix, so there really aren't that many customers out there (which is why many shops don't take big aggressive cichlids in, or won't give you anything in exhcange). Unless someone here on this site wants to buy him off your hands, that is.
If you do want to keep him, try getting some small caves that he can't get into or overturn. A big, heavy piece of driftwood or rock that allows your smaller fish some hiding room away from him might help. As well, don't introduce 1 fish. I would throw 4-6 fish in there all at once.
It really is tough to judge what you can or can not put in there with him. Festaes, like most large 'central american' (I know he ain't a central, but same 'similar disposition to them, I would say) are true individuals. In my tank, they are the weakest fish. I have 4 of them between 5" and 8" now, and all 4 of the small red devils (labiatusXcitrnellus) dominate them, as does my 5" tuba, and my 5" Dat if you can believe it.
If you really like him, keep him and try it out, even if you try it with cheaper convicts to see what happens. They sure don't come around all that often, so IMO, it is a huge waste IF you like him.
It is a large, agressive fish to mix, so there really aren't that many customers out there (which is why many shops don't take big aggressive cichlids in, or won't give you anything in exhcange). Unless someone here on this site wants to buy him off your hands, that is.
If you do want to keep him, try getting some small caves that he can't get into or overturn. A big, heavy piece of driftwood or rock that allows your smaller fish some hiding room away from him might help. As well, don't introduce 1 fish. I would throw 4-6 fish in there all at once.
It really is tough to judge what you can or can not put in there with him. Festaes, like most large 'central american' (I know he ain't a central, but same 'similar disposition to them, I would say) are true individuals. In my tank, they are the weakest fish. I have 4 of them between 5" and 8" now, and all 4 of the small red devils (labiatusXcitrnellus) dominate them, as does my 5" tuba, and my 5" Dat if you can believe it.
If you really like him, keep him and try it out, even if you try it with cheaper convicts to see what happens. They sure don't come around all that often, so IMO, it is a huge waste IF you like him.
Its difficult to answer when my male festae was 10" he would not allow any tankmates in a 125. However once I moved him to my 265 he got along with the other fish until he reached 13" then he had to be moved again. I would not reccomend adding in any other potentially large or aggresive cichlids. Such a mix IME would cause a bloodbath. I know that festae ( especially the males) can shred other equaly large fish in no time at all.
If you want to add other fish and dont want incident then I reccomed you sell him.
As far as adding a pike do not do it. Pikes for the most part get shredded by the heavy duty cichlids. Unless you have a large C.strigata on hand pikes are out of the question.
If you want to add other fish and dont want incident then I reccomed you sell him.
As far as adding a pike do not do it. Pikes for the most part get shredded by the heavy duty cichlids. Unless you have a large C.strigata on hand pikes are out of the question.
What can be kept with a Festae? I inherited a 2" male(?) a year ago and now he is 6". He basically outgrew the 29 gallon tank he is in now. I have a 100 gallon I can setup for him, but I can I introduce a female at the same time? I would hate to give him up since I was told he is a genuine Red Terror. How big can he get? I can post pics as soon as I qualify as a full on member.
