Festae questions??

[josh1986]

Hey I have a couple festae in my community tank. The female was picking on the male but now the male has all of a sudden changed his tune and chases her all over the tank. She has a few nip marks on her doesn't look like anything too major. The male is now nice and colourful as he was quite dull before. He is probably almost 4 inch and she is a little smaller. Is this pairing behavior or will he kill her because I don't want that? Any help would be appreciated thanks

 

[duanes]

This is behavior where the male wants to spawn, and with size has become dominant.
If she is ready to spawn, they could pair up, if she is not ready, she could be killed, if the tank is not sufficiently large enough together away and hide out.
In nature females that are not ready to spawn simply leave his are, and those ready will stay.
A normal males territory in nature is the space he patrols which covers, @ 250 gallons.
I have used egg crate dividers in small tanks of less than that size, with a cut out the smaller females can escape thru, but not the males. If she's ready, she will cross over, if not she stays alive in her section.


The tank above is 6ft in length.

 

[josh1986]

I may have to get a divider. Will he settle down towards her?, also are they on the small side to spawn for festae I thought they were around the 5 to 6 inch mark?

 

[BIG-G]

I may have to get a divider. Will he settle down towards her?, also are they on the small side to spawn for festae I thought they were around the 5 to 6 inch mark?

I always use a divider especial if their is a size difference it works even better.
Usually they will settle down and get along once the spawn takes place.
I have seen females spawn as small as 3 inches usually the males are a little larger.

 

[josh1986]

I always use a divider especial if their is a size difference it works even better.
Usually they will settle down and get along once the spawn takes place.
I have seen females spawn as small as 3 inches usually the males are a little larger.

OK. Is a bit hard to put in a divider as they are in a tank with some other cichlids. I may just have to give up the female. Pity she was pretty cool

 

[duanes]

It can be a bit of a hassle and unsightly to put a divider in a community tank, but if you want them to spawn, and actually keep the fry, they will need their own tank anyway. And dividers will need to be secure enough to withstand the force a rutting male can exert.
I always put perpendicular pieces on the bottom of the divider where rocks can be placed to hold in place, and for particularly strong fish, braces running vertically, but also perpendicular. Below some examples.

Cutting notched to slide in the tanks rim also help.

and 5 " is not too young for festae to be experimentation for pair selection, and spawning.
Althoughthe male in the pics below is almost 12", the female was only half that.