How I'm keeping my adult festae pair

[Crazylegs78]

I have a very incompatible pair of festae. I've tried tank dividers, but the fish persistantly fight through them and work them loose. I've come home to a beat up female too many times. I can't do the hole-in-divider method because she's as girthy as he is.

I'm not really interested in breeding, I just want to keep a specimen pair. My female is my favorite fish. She's truly a wet pet. She has the most outgoing personality of any american cichlid i've kept. So keeping her healthy and keeping her lit up red are my top priorities. This is the solution I've come up with...side-by-side 75g's.





They were housed in a divided 210g measuring 72"x24"x30", which gave them 6sqft of area each. They have the same amount of area this way, and no more divider issues. She seems to enjoy looking around the fishroom at all the other tanks as well.

 

[dr exum]

good lookers!

similar issues, tried all the tank configurations - living mostly at peace in 625g setup with SD's n a few cichlids

 

[Aquatic Aggression]

Beautiful fish and an interesting solution to this problem. You must be quite attached to these monsters. Sometimes planned pairs just won't get along, but there are some pairs that overcome this when we mimic nature (and tag team wrestling).
The usual solution for overcoming incompatible pairings was to aquire some new and younger fish of the same species and then letting them choose mates themselves. Rehome the extras one at a time until only the pair remains. Introducing new juvies and young adults also gives the once incompatible pair an incentive to bond, defending territory from the newcomers will increase the chances of a bond forming with the mature and breeding aged fish. Those aggressive and territorial displays are a requirement for starting the pairing off process of many cichlids. When there are no other fish to challenge the hierarchy and territorial claims within the tank the fish you intend on pairing will sometimes just take that instinct out on each other instead.

Cichlids are highly evolved and funny creatures. Still abiding to natural instinct and instruction from their habitats and weather conditions even when living in glass boxes for multiple generations.

 

[aquaticeye]

I have a very incompatible pair of festae. I've tried tank dividers, but the fish persistantly fight through them and work them loose. I've come home to a beat up female too many times. I can't do the hole-in-divider method because she's as girthy as he is.

I'm not really interested in breeding, I just want to keep a specimen pair. My female is my favorite fish. She's truly a wet pet. She has the most outgoing personality of any american cichlid i've kept. So keeping her healthy and keeping her lit up red are my top priorities. This is the solution I've come up with...side-by-side 75g's.
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They were housed in a divided 210g measuring 72"x24"x30", which gave them 6sqft of area each. They have the same amount of area this way, and no more divider issues. She seems to enjoy looking around the fishroom at all the other tanks as well.

Great looking pair. Male is definitely a stunner. Female too. I'm just more partial to the festae. They really look like brutes.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Fantastic festae there. Best of luck breeding them. You might just give it some more time. Construct a more sturdy divider maybe and try again in the bigger tank.

 

[jr71]

That's a gorgeous female, and the male is really nice, too. Two panes of glass should work well as a divider, that's a creative good solution if you're serious about keeping both.

 

[Crazylegs78]

Thank you all for the compliments and info! Festae have always been my weak spot, and this female rivals any large cichlid I've kept in personality.

So keeping her happy is really my only concern. At least this way she has a space of her own with no risk of him invading, and she has the incentive to stay red hopefully.

 

[BIG-G]

Nice looking Festae you’ve got. I see some nuchal hump coming on. How old is this pair?

 

[Crazylegs78]

Nice looking Festae you’ve got. I see some nuchal hump coming on. How old is this pair?

They're about 3 years old now.

 

[Festae Forever]

A few years back there was an acrylic aquarium manufacturer that had an aquarium with flow through 2 tubes connecting the tanks to one another. They didn't make anything nearly big enough for these beasts (It think the biggest was 4 feet), but I've often pondered how cool this design would be for jumbo cichlids in a much larger configuration. The tubes would enable breeding, but easily keep fish from getting at one another if they were large enough.