Tips and Tricks for pairing Festae

[MP_cichlid]

Hi again, I have another post going about these guys and I have decided to keep that as an update thread for my festae "pair". For those of you who aren't already aware of my situation, I have two festae, a wild caught male at about 7.5 in and a f2 female at about 5.5-6 in. I'm trying to pair them off, They are in a 40 gallon breeder. Please no comments on the tank size, I am in the processing of getting at least a 90. Also it isn't torture for these fish, I mean it isn't a ten gallon tank, I understand the fish I have are large growing and aggressive so please don't try to tell me about how they are way too big for that tank and what not, I am fully aware. I am wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks that they have used when it comes to bonding these guys. All ideas are appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[Hoplo]

Having some where for the smaller fish to hide that the bigger fish can not get to is importaint, and having some way that you can separate them if it all goes bad is important.

 

[duanes]

I use egg crate to divide the tank, with a space only the female can escape thru, in case the male gets too rough.

 

[MP_cichlid]

that male is huge, I took them out and measured them yesterday. The male is 6.5 inches and the female is about 5.75 inches, he still has a good amount of mass on her but still not nearly a difference like yours. Do you think I need a bigger male?

 

[MP_cichlid]

Also, she has barred up before. She has never had that orange though, right now i have her with the male with a divider like yours, she is ok but showing no color really, well not this morning at least. I was wondering what signs I should look out for to know she is ready to breed.

 

[duanes]

The male in my pic, is probably between 10"-12", but I admit I never properly checked with a tape measure.
In the size tank yours are in, a bigger male would not be feasible, the female would probably only last a minute or 2, unless she was absolutely ready to spawn the moment he was, or if they had spent a serious enough amount of time together growing up to promote compatibility.
Even in my 6 ft tank, my female took her share of abuse.

 

[MP_cichlid]

so i just got home and everyone is fine, they were together all night last night and all day today, the female looks fine and so does the male, however they have no color what so ever, not like they are sick, but no excitement at all.

 

[Freshwaterpredators]

Hmm.. You know what I said.

 

[jonclark96]

I would definitely put a divider in that tank as soon as possible. I have had much more peaceful and smaller pairs of fish in a 40 breeder that seemed fine for months and I came home from work to find the female destroyed.