How can festae look so different?
- Thread starter josh1986
- Start date
I think you can tell it right now. Will still make a great pet, just wouldn't let them spawn.
If you're goal is to have a great looking spawning pair, that produces good fry, then I would pass on this male.
I had one particular GT fry that had a similar issue. Still looked good but something was just off about him. So he went with the group that I sold to the LFS.
I don't know man, it really doesn't look that bad. I don't want to sound like I'm saying hes all messed up looking, just not what I consider to be of breeding quality is all.
Location variants are a definite possibility with festae or any other cichlid. Whenever terrain changes, a certain color form may take precedence because one color blends in better than another with the environment, and predation reduces those without a color that makes them less visible.
Here is a Chuco intermedia from the Rio Puyacatengo
now below same species from another river Rio Coro(?)
now some festae, in simply different moods.
female, both the same individual, above without a male in the tank, below with a male
now two female
When I had breeding pairs of managuense, in each spawn there would be those without spots, or some darker than others, mixed in with many normal colored one..
This a strategy with many cichlids to ensure the survival of the fittest if the environment should suddenly change, could be a volcanic eruption, storms or floods that wash out vegetation, any number of scenarios allowing a few to survive.
Here is a Chuco intermedia from the Rio Puyacatengo
now below same species from another river Rio Coro(?)
now some festae, in simply different moods.
female, both the same individual, above without a male in the tank, below with a male
now two female
When I had breeding pairs of managuense, in each spawn there would be those without spots, or some darker than others, mixed in with many normal colored one..
This a strategy with many cichlids to ensure the survival of the fittest if the environment should suddenly change, could be a volcanic eruption, storms or floods that wash out vegetation, any number of scenarios allowing a few to survive.
