I have lost too many fish to my male Festae. He has relentlessly killed or nearly killed every thing in my tank. He has turned on yet another female. I won't let him kill her. I thought that they would be fine until I got my 210gal. in a few months but no dice. He is determined to have the tank to himself. Instead of having a 120 or a 210 with one lone fish I am going to let him go so that I can have a more diversified stock now and in the future. I'll keep the little lady but her man has to go. The bad thing is that he is a great looking fish, strong and fast. Even as I write this the female is in breeding dress shaking and twitching in his face. I'm thinking of getting rid of her mate to save her but she keeps running back to him. So should I let him go and make room for a different stock or keep him and see what happens?
The end of the Festae experience
- Thread starter Gruff Master
- Start date
It will be hard for me to get pics at the moment. I'm in the process of moving and everything is scattered, boxed, and bagged. He just started going nuts on her. I will get a divider tomorrow and see how that works.
Maybe you could get some eggcrate and make an area where she could fit through to get to the other side and he couldn't get to her. He sounds like a beast, as for getting rid of him and going with a more diverse stock, sounds like a good idea. I know that wouldn't be an easy decision.
Personally I would keep him and use a divider when necessary.But then Festae are my all time fav. Maybe leave him in the 120 by himself and just add her to the new tank?
ugh, I feel your pain man...since my male killed the 7th female, I havent even bothered to go get him from the friends i moved him to last year...and may never. Hes in a 210 with a butti and they get along great and im not looking for an 8-infinity-ith female to eventually end up with a 1 fish 265. Divider sounds like a good idea though if you want to keep them.
I used to have that problem with a female. She killed four males before I got her an F0 male from Rapps that was double her size. When she found out she couldn't own him, she fell in love and made lots of babies. 
In fact, they were my current male Festae's parents.....
Anyway GruffMeister, you should try to find a way to keep him. I really regret selling that F0 male. He was over 10" three years ago when I sold him, imagine how awesome he is now.
In fact, they were my current male Festae's parents.....Anyway GruffMeister, you should try to find a way to keep him. I really regret selling that F0 male. He was over 10" three years ago when I sold him, imagine how awesome he is now.
I agree pretty much which everyone has said. Even though you will get a lot of offers for him letting that male Festae go is something that you may regret later given that if you change your mind even getting fry is hard to do. You can check all the online fish retailers and they don't have any instock for sale. I think even if you don't like it to breed them in a 210 w/ a divider will keep both fish happy. Maybe keeping a target fish that isn't easy for your male to kill will keep his aggresion away from your female festae.
Thanks to everyone for the replies. I really don't want to get rid of him. Like Fitz and Balton said, I may regret it down the line. The female is a lot more personable than he is. She follows my movements and isn't too shy. She is beautiful but so is he. I just can't deal with the mass killings anymore. Synspillums, Convicts, giant danios, Festae, Red Devil, Tin Foil Barbs, Green Terror; the male has killed or beat down all of these guys. My wife thinks I should sell him and make room for the bigger tank with more fish. I still don't know what to do but I have to make up my mind soon. It will be a lot easier to take him out while my tank is emptied to move to my new house. I'll get the divider today and see how that works. I just don't like the divided tank look but I have to do something. VRWC hit on another worry of mine. Since Festae grow so slowly, if I keep him in the 120 alone it will look very empty for a while as he is only a little more than 7.5". He hates tankmates so no dithers would work to add a little life to the dead space. From the experiences of others on this site, I guess I should expect my male Festae to come close to his maximum size after three years of growth. He is only a year old now. That means for two more years I would have to deal with one little fish in a big tank. Decisions...Decisions...I still have no clue what to do. If only I could run one massive tank. I can't afford to have him claim the upcoming 210 for himself.