Festae with Mayan?

[BC in SK]

My sole point is this. Do you want, down the road, to see posts where people put up pics of a fish and the stock response is miterror?

So what are you saying? Should never keep different species of CA cichlids in the same tank in case they hybiridize. Only species tanks?
Instead, I would say you should know what you are keeping and shouldn't distribute hybrids!

Just because some people confuse mayan and festae does not mean they cannot be easily distinguished. I've seen all kinds of cichlids confused. Even JD's confused for green terrors; jewel cichlids confused for JD's. The distinction with midas and RD is that they CANNOT be reliably distinguished in captivity.

As long as you know what you have how is mayan or festae any different together then any other CA cichlid?? Of course when people don't know what they have all kinds of cichlid hybrids can be produced and distributed......but that is the same with any cichlids!!

 

[cichlidfish]

I agree w/ Duanes on this. They'll either kill each other or hybridize. While each sp. is pretty tolerant of water conditions festae like a lower ph than Mayans. That could be a long term problem.


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[duanes]

There are many ways to keep fish of course, and to each there own.
I personally think seeing a green terror from S America, in the same tank as a JD from Mexico looks strange, though many others may not.
Though it may work in glass cage practice, to me personally, it doesn't, and when I see tanks like that, well...... I would take the same view of an oscar with a Vieja,
I would also never put a managuense in the same tank as motaguense, to me it just seems off.
I just wouldn't do it, more power to you if you do.
The OP was asking for opinions, the above is mine.
I also think allowing one species to hybridize with another is screwed up.
Though hybridization is possible in nature, there are environmental checks and balances that weed out the less than robust individuals, in aquariums this is often not the case, where prettiness, or a goofy protuberance rules. And can produce weak, disease prone strains.
Maybe its because I have spent time snorkeling with cichlids in nature, and that has skewed my view of how my tanks should look.
I have snorkeled with Mayans on a number of occasions, and most of the time they dominate their aquascape, allowing few others to remain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb3v0VJTg5c
click to run short video below

 

[Loshmitchell101]

I originally purchased festaes to find they were actually mayans. The similarities are wjen they are young. still wanting a festae we purchased a true festae and these all live together. Our mayan bred with both our female festae and female dovii and we simply fed the fry back to the tank later on. Accidents happen in our tanks all the time. I found.the mayan to be the most aggressiv overall but he was the only male. Any central american cichlids can potentially breed because they are housed together. I personally love hybrids but everyone.is different.

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