Info needed from keepers of Cichlasoma festae/Red Terror

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
PDRed302

PDRed302

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 4, 2011
1,521
90
66
Fort Worth Texas
I recently lost my large female O Swamp-Thing, my "main" fish in my display tank :thumbsdow

I have been going back and forth on a couple of different ideas on what I want to do as far as filling her gap. One that has recently popped up is a female Red Terror, my lfs has a bunch of them in right now at 2"-4". They are so commonly seen on the boards now that they have grown on me quite a bit (specifically the females) but I still have some major reserves about them.

I still may just add a few SD's or leave it alone and call it a day but this has been on my mind so I figured I'd pose the question/s.

1. First and foremost: How mean are they really? I mean, I know all cichlids have attitude but how bad is it?

2. What are you keeping them with?

3. I have a fairly calm tank (for an sa/ca cichlid community) there's a chase away and a flare every once in a while but no major altercations or damage amongst the fish.

Tank is currently stocked with:

2x Oscars
1x Common Pleco
3x Spotted Silver Dollars
1x Rotkeil Severum
1x Turquoise Severum
1x Firemouth
1x BGK
1x Marbled Angel
1x Convict
1x Senegal Bichir
1x Nicaraguan Cichlid
1x Texas Cichlid
2x Blue Acara (Pair)
1x hoplarchus psittacus (True Parrot)
1x Flagtail Prochilous
3x Red Hump Geo
7x Blushing Tetra's (fairing better than I thought they would, started with 10 about a month and a half ago)

... would a female Terror obliterate my stock?

4. Are they hiders or swimmers?

5. I don't ever plan on keeping a male with her in this tank if I do end up picking one up. I understand that when they mate, there can be some serious problems; and I of course, definitely want to avoid that. But I want to make sure she gets "colored up". Will this fish still display beautiful colors even when not mating? I understand that when mating they will be much more vibrant than normal, I just want to make sure that all of the good looking fish I keep seeing aren't just doing a mating dance at the time of the photo.

Thanks to all with any info/experience/help.
 
I keep a Female in my 300 and my experience has been when small, she was terrorized by several of my other middle of the road cichlids so bad she got ich and I had to put her in a qt/hospital tank till she healed and got some size on her. I've since thinned out the herd so to speak. She is currently about 7" and is in the tank with a 12" Jag, 12" Argentea and 8" Freddy with several loricariids and 6 silver dollars. She absolutely hates the SD's and the Freddy, but she still the smallest cichlid so it's mostly all show.....for now. She is always in breeding dress lately and her attitude has gotten worse. I think once she puts on another inch or so, I'll be putting the Freddy out in the garage in my 90 gallon. The Argentea should always outsize her, but my Jag has pretty much topped out, Im kinda at a wait and see point right now. She is definitely not a hider at all and I'm pretty sure at 12" she will be without a doubt the meanest freshwater fish I'll probably house.

I think your Geo's, Sevs and Angel might be done for, as well as your Parrot, Nic and Acaras. With size, there's really no telling what she might do. She is my favorite fish looks wise and is very personable to people, but I currently only have 4 cichlids in an 8 footer and it's mostly because of her........I'd be very careful with a Festae
 
I highly doubt she'll obliterate your stock. Most of the horror stories you hear are about breeding pairs. First, how big is your tank? If you do get one hopefully it is a female the first go around so your not jumping thru hoops from one male to the next in search of a female. I'm sure she'll eventually work her way to the top if the tank. But keep in mind that with any species it comes down to individual personality. The only way to find out is to try. And another thing, its not like your gonna wake up one day to her slaughtered your tank. There will be plenty of signs leading up to it. And if your paying attention then you'll notice it and will be able to be proactive rather than reactive.
 
Jc1119 said:
She is definitely not a hider at all and I'm pretty sure at 12" she will be without a doubt the meanest freshwater fish I'll probably house.

I think your Geo's, Sevs and Angel might be done for, as well as your Parrot, Nic and Acaras. With size, there's really no telling what she might do. She is my favorite fish looks wise and is very personable to people, but I currently only have 4 cichlids in an 8 footer and it's mostly because of her........I'd be very careful with a Festae
Click to expand...

...Along the same lines of what I was thinking.

Runitis said:
Most likely obliterate your stock. Mine has a kill list. Although it will tolerate some but not others ..
Click to expand...

I hear ya', I was kind of fearing this.

Freshwaterpredators said:
I highly doubt she'll obliterate your stock. Most of the horror stories you hear are about breeding pairs. First, how big is your tank? If you do get one hopefully it is a female the first go around so your not jumping thru hoops from one male to the next in search of a female. I'm sure she'll eventually work her way to the top if the tank. But keep in mind that with any species it comes down to individual personality. The only way to find out is to try. And another thing, its not like your gonna wake up one day to her slaughtered your tank. There will be plenty of signs leading up to it. And if your paying attention then you'll notice it and will be able to be proactive rather than reactive.
Click to expand...

Tank is 345gal 100"long x 40"deep x 20"tall

If I were to try for a female I would probably go ahead and pick up 3 or 4 and grow them out for a bit, choose my female and take the others back to the lfs for credit, luckily I have a pretty cool lfs.

I do understand that with all cichlids its a pretty much "try and see what happens" method when it comes to what will work with your stock; but I do not plan on adding another tank large enough to house this fish for life. This is why I am asking for owners opinons on the matter, I would hate to let her stay in my display tank for months on end and grow attached to her only to have to get rid of her because once she got some size on her, she went crazy and started to pick on/kill the rest of my stock.

From the replies so far I am leaning even more towards not picking one up. With my current setup I usally follow my own rules of not adding any fish named after a prized fighter or a devil/demon etc. But, like everyone else on this board, I am here to learn, so I figured I would go ahead and ask. They (Red Terrors) are beautiful fish and though I'd love to have one in my display tank it sounds like the possibility of that happening is slim to none. Oh well, maybe in my next tank! :)

Back to the hunt, now I get to learn about even more fish!
 
PDRed302 said:
...Along the same lines of what I was thinking.



I hear ya', I was kind of fearing this.



Tank is 345gal 100"long x 40"deep x 20"tall

If I were to try for a female I would probably go ahead and pick up 3 or 4 and grow them out for a bit, choose my female and take the others back to the lfs for credit, luckily I have a pretty cool lfs.

I do understand that with all cichlids its a pretty much "try and see what happens" method when it comes to what will work with your stock; but I do not plan on adding another tank large enough to house this fish for life. This is why I am asking for owners opinons on the matter, I would hate to let her stay in my display tank for months on end and grow attached to her only to have to get rid of her because once she got some size on her, she went crazy and started to pick on/kill the rest of my stock.

From the replies so far I am leaning even more towards not picking one up. With my current setup I usally follow my own rules of not adding any fish named after a prized fighter or a devil/demon etc. But, like everyone else on this board, I am here to learn, so I figured I would go ahead and ask. They (Red Terrors) are beautiful fish and though I'd love to have one in my display tank it sounds like the possibility of that happening is slim to none. Oh well, maybe in my next tank! :)

Back to the hunt, now I get to learn about even more fish!
Click to expand...

If you get a male i don't think you will want to get rid of him... There colors are unbelievable just like the female. I was going to do the same thing but i bought 4 festae to start and was just hoping to keep a female out of the bunch till my male started to grow. Decided to keep both after i saw his beauty!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
Everything is about the decoration and the size of the tank. My couple living with blackbelt, gold morph managuensis, Loisellei, RTM, Argentea, Synspilum, Carpinte, Pearsei and an Oscar and have eggs already hatched. So long no big aggression at all. Only territorial threat displays and sometimes liplockings, but thats all. you should have a good decorated and big enough tank...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom