terror growth

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
thanks for all the information, looks like I have a wait on my hands! I'll put some pics up when it colours up a little more see if you guys can tell male or female. cheers.
 
convict84;3879063;3879063 said:
he has a mayan,i think they grow faster than a festae
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I believe Preston has a Festae. At least that's what it was sold to him as. In any case, my Festae were born in April 09. I have six in a 120gal. with a lone Convict. The smallest is barely over 2.5" and the largest is over 5". They all eat the same foods but their individual growth rates are very different.
 
Gruff Master;3879570; said:
I believe Preston has a Festae. At least that's what it was sold to him as. In any case, my Festae were born in April 09. I have six in a 120gal. with a lone Convict. The smallest is barely over 2.5" and the largest is over 5". They all eat the same foods but their individual growth rates are very different.
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yeah the dominant ones will grow way faster, thats usually been my experience when keeping multiples of any kind of fish
 
I've kept festae and they grew as quickly as any large cichlid - about an inch per month from 2" to about 10-12". The key is VERY low nitrates, a lot of food, and VERY big tanks, even when they're small. And dont let them breed, or growth will slow drastically, especially in females, as it will with most cichlids.

You can usually sex them at 3-4", although some males will look like females till they're 5-6".
 
Its interesting hearing everybodies experiences. Today i've noticed my festaes gill/face area is going a torquoise colour along with the middle section of the body and front half of the dorsal fin. Its dam near impossible to get a picture.
 
Hi guys, sorry to drag up an old thread but ive got a few questions about my festae (and yes its a true red terror) ive had this single festae for a little over 2 years now and always in the same 120g tank, he started as a group of 6 and is now the lone survivor mainly im sure due to their tank mates, a 9" tiger oscar, 2 x 5" albino tiger oscars, a common pleco and a 6" green severum, im pretty sure the big daddy 'O' has devoured his brethren when they were young. Anyway in the 2 years ive had him hes still only 4.5-5" long!!! I know they are slow growers but its getting a bit silly now, hes showing the correct colours for his size and I say 'he' from all the descriptions ive read he definitely looks male, I feed them almost daily (I skip a day here and there), my water is crystal clear and nitrates and ammonia etc are all zero due to having two monster canisters doing the work. Why is he still small? Is it a dominance thing with the bigger oscars in the tank? 120g and the filtration is more than enough for them and the only aggression is between the 3 oscars, they all but ignore the festae, ive kept cichlids from malawi, tanganyika and south & central america before but this has me stumped!! Any help would be greatly appreciated, cheers
 
nitrate wont be zero due to a canister as you remove this by water changes for a start, ammonia and nitrite should be zero!-) anyways i dont know why mate, i grew my 2inch male to 10.5 inch in 8 months in my 300g with a 50% water change every week before a tank disaster killed him and his girl! check my old threads for a growth thread too prove this... mine were in with much much larger fish so i doubt its dominance.

i believe water changes are the key, he may now be too stunted to do anything about it..
 
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