My usual harmonious Festae tank has been turned upside down overnight! My big male has gone crazy! I noticed one of my Festae looking pretty torn up at the top of the tank. I didn't understand what happened until about an hour ago. I've been watching my large male attack his tankmates relentlessly. Everyone's getting chased except for the toughest female and the small Festae that I still can't sex. This is very sudden. One day they're all sticking to their same boring routine and territories and the next day,"BOOM!" Killer Festae! What happened?
Let there be blood
- Thread starter Gruff Master
- Start date
I know but I thought I would have a little warning. All the other cichlids that I have raised gave me signs when things were about to go south. This is just nuts! All I hear every few minutes is his mouth snapping at the other fish. His colors are much bolder too.
oh i really didn't want to hear that. now im worried my male festae will go nuts one night like yours did. so it attacked all the other fish except for the 2 festae you mentioned? where there more festae that did get attacked or just other species?
So now I am down to four. The dominant male killed the other male. He doesn't seem too interested in the other three at the moment. But that may change when I turn off the lights. There is only one female Convict in this tank of Festae. The male treats her like all the rest. He doesn't seem to want any of them near his cave. That's the only time that he has chased the females today. I still don't know why he suddenly clicked. I don't know if I should take out the other three. I don't want to wake up to anymore dead fish.
Same thing happened with my red devil. He just let the jaguar and BPs mess around with him and one day he goes nuts and is suddenly the boss!
ahhh the fun of bi-polar fish HAHA. Yep, you know the story. Mine did the same, but only after they spawned and I had free swimming fry. Until then, it was a very calm tank, as well as any other community tanks I have kept festae in. I wonder if he is starting a spawning process and trying to find the perfect mate. I have never kept more than 2 in a tank once they got over 4 inches, so I have no experience with it. GOod luck!!
I think this may be a good possibility. He and the dominant female have been swimming around together for a few weeks, generally in the same area. Their colors are very vibrant when they are together. I put in a piece of tile and leaned it against the clay pot that she likes a few days ago to give her a resting spot from him but they both seem to like it. I thought they were ready to breed weeks ago but when nothing ever happened i thought that I was wrong. I did a water change today and still no eggs or fry. I don't know what the deal is!VRWC;4009082;4009082 said: