Pairing festae

[Beardogcichlids]

They've been holy grail fish for me for some years now too! I got me about 70 growouts right now and am looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

Speaking of all this, where are the pics of your festae??[/QUOTE


Awful pics, but it's the best I could do in a hurry last night. The aquarium is old and scratched. Awful for pics

 

[cichlidsickness]

Lookin good!

 

[cambrew]

They've been holy grail fish for me for some years now too! I got me about 70 growouts right now and am looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

Speaking of all this, where are the pics of your festae??

It's funny you say that. Had been waiting out to get a 180 gallon tank specifically for these guys and have always seen them as being the ultimate american cichlid due to being the best looking, one of the most aggressive and one of the largest also.

 

[prez1me]

Nice looking festae, had a few pairs years ago I sold them when I moved, now I have discus. I'm thinking I want some again.

 

[Beardogcichlids]

So I've recently added a new rack to the fish room and moved some stuff around so now I can fit a chair in to watch. The red terrors are on a bottom rack and have been shy since I've gotten them but seem to loosen up a bit if I stay seated in my new chair for about 4 or 5 minutes. Tonight I'm was watching them and the dominant male was cruising the tank. Any time he got near one of the females she would immediately fire up. Full barring and a deep yellow. It was awesome to watch as you could literally see her colors changing within a matter of seconds. Then I noticed he would cruise by another and more dominant female and she would start to fire up a bit herself. The one time he showed her more than 10 seconds of attention her face turned bright red, her body bright yellow and she developed dark, almost iridescent blue barring. Beautiful. He then cruised to the other corner of the tank by himself and his for a couple minutes. I watched this show for about 30 min. Male would cruise past the females, they'd display, then he would move on. The first female seemed very interested and would follow him the first 4 ft across the aquarium when he'd leave or until the other female would stop him. He never seemed interested in pairing, only flirting. Is this typical behavior for red terrors? Is it all a part of the process or is this something strange? The females paid no attention to another male other than to chase him off if he got too close. The dominant male seemed content to chill in his corner by himself for minutes at a time. I would think he would be more driven to breed...
Nonetheless, it was extremely entertaining to watch and is why I switched from old world to new world cichlids to begin with.