Festae spawning question

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
That's a tricky one - best way is to rehome the female to another tank for several weeks/months and allow the male to occupy the display tank all by his lonesome. He'll own it but it gets risky when you re-introduce the female, most successful reintroductions use a divider. However, theres still no qurantees they'll mate. I'm not a huge dither fan with male Red Terrors, it can work against you, the male may just prolong his hiding or just plain snap (which is very common) and kill everything, right outta the blue no warning. Females although very aggressive are actually more excepting of tankmates in the long run (IMO). Personally I think aggressive cichlid species esp. same species and sex are the worst dither choice you could make.

After I raised a few RT's and got my mating Alphas - I was left with 7 RT's - 2 Sub males and 6 Females (note: I didn't say sub-female's). 1st thing that happened 2 females lite up on opposite ends of the tank, the others hid. I got curious and dropped another female with the alphas, they breed and then the 2 original alphas destroyed her and raised her fry. The remaining lite female in the other tank then started on the remaining 4. In a panic and lack of room to house all the remaining RT's I gave them away here on MFK. The other F that lite up has destoryed 3 males in someonelses tank. The 2 males and females eventually paired in other homes and both males destroyed their mates afterwards. Both males were given back to me last winter (weird twist of fate) and resold here on MFK, then resold again here on the marketplace to unkown ppl to me, as they were 12"+ and pure tankbusters.

Sir - if you have a pair living in peace in your tank - thank your lucky stars! Be patient - one day you may wake up and say WOW my male turned yellow and has black bars, my female looks like a halloween decoration - bloody orange and black!! At this piont they will breed. From experience they will 1st join togather in digging a new pit. This pit will be around an orniment like driftwood or river rock or clay pot. Both will change color and patterns. Next thing you know both have visible tubes - then eggs, a few at a time, and he fans and ferts them, this goes on for an hour or 2. A week later you got fry eating their egg sachs, a week or 2 later they'll eat flake, then micro pellets , then free swimming - GET The female OUT! The male will Rampage! After a few weeks he'll chase the fry away - remove the fry re-introduce the female. Process will repeat.

Once again - best just leave eveything alone, no other fish in the tank but 2 Festae w/ large rocks or clay pots.

Otherone, what are your thought on feeding fry removed from parents? How many times a day, etc.?



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Quick update, over the past few days the male has been showing vertical bars about 50% of the time! Now, i just need the female to start displaying again and hopefully I will have fry soon. Thanks guys for the help!
 
Quick update, over the past few days the male has been showing vertical bars about 50% of the time! Now, i just need the female to start displaying again and hopefully I will have fry soon. Thanks guys for the help!

Didn't you say that you had other big cichlids in there with them? Vertical bars don't necessarily mean ready to breed. My male that just spawned was all barred up in another tank because my ornatum was punking him out. I moved him to a new tank w/ new female and they spawned right away.

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Yes there has been a female dovii in there with them all along, and he does not pay any attention to her. He only bars up when he is chasing the female festae around
 
Vertical bars are also a sign of submission. Sub-dominant festae males display them in the presence of a Dominant fish.
 
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