Festae

[Cypherman]

I was wondering if anyone can tell me about the personality of the Red Terror from personal experience. I know legend has it that theyre on par with Red Devils, but I want to know from those who've kept them. I'm picking up a female 7 incher tomorrow from my LFS and I'm hoping she'll share a 75 with my 6 inch GT and maybe some silver dollars and plecos. What do you guys think? She was a real shy fish when I checked last week, ducking and hiding constantly even when the large male paratilapia she shared her tank with swam near her. Plenty of space here...Females rarely exceed 10 inches if I recall. She's a beaut too, the green striped variation with the dots on the posterior end! I'll try to get pics.

[inxs]

Any cichlids added together may or may not show aggression to establish pecking order.

Adding two larger ones together just increases your chances of there being trouble.

The things you can do to avoid/minimize it is to add some structure to the tank and redo the aquascaping before adding the new fish as it will take away the homefield advantage.

Add a few pieces of PVC pipe and/or some flowerpots at each end of the tank to give the fish a home hidingspot each.

Plastic plants help break up the visual from end to end and make the tank more peaceful.

You already have silver dollars for target/dither fish which is good.

Good luck they are beautiful.

Check this out http://208.51.130.220/~mojo/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Photo;action=display;num=1046221033

[Cypherman]

Yea, Mojo's festae are the best...I hope mine turns out like his.

The fish'll actually be introduced at the same time as the 75 is a new tank with no fish in it yet so there wont be a homefield advantage or established territories.

[inxs]

Careful with the cycling - big fish.

[AikidoGuy]

i keep my f1 female with a male midas, a large female green severum and a dozen clown loaches in a 220gal.
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL15/947217/1747145/20798179.jpg



http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL15/947217/1747145/20798173.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL15/947217/1747145/20798048.jpg

[wantsome8]

awsome pics. i ve seen small festaes about 2" or so with no colors does it devlope with age?

[AikidoGuy]

when i got this one it was 3" and already showing adult colors. in these pics shes in a bad mood, when shes in a good mood shes almost blood red with solid black stripes. shes about 6" now. i got her in november.

[Cypherman]

Wow, that coloration is amazing! Every female festae I've seen looks way different from the first but I like yours a lot. Here's a shot of mine, about 7-8 inches:

http://www.cichlidtank.com/uploads/photos/2540.jpg

[AikidoGuy]

shes in a slightly better mood here, still nto at best though. shes to hyper to get good shots but im trying
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL15/947217/1747145/20849479.jpg

[Rudedog]

Mine is not as nice as Akido guys but here are two pics when she is happy and not so
Stressed
http://www.cichlidgallery.com/albums/album32/100_0011_IMG.jpg
Not so

http://www.cichlidgallery.com/albums/album32/100_0015_IMG.jpg

Pics kind of suck to She is quite a bit nicer then they show. She is now seperated from the male and looks awesome.

[Sparko]

yeah mine was almost grey with some black when i first got her, then as she grew her colors really came alive.

[Rudedog]

http://www.cichlidgallery.com/albums/under-construction/100_0025_IMG.jpg

[Rudedog]

http://www.cichlidgallery.com/albums/under-construction/100_0025_IMG.jpg

[AikidoGuy]

looks like an albino channel cat to me?? not avery good pic though

[limis]

You can look at my festae.


http://www.aquarium.lt/files/Babeni/dienos/fest2.jpg

here is a bigger picture:

http://www.aquarium.lt/files/Babeni/dienos/fest3.jpg