Red terror growouts

[Kayden]

Pics of my group of 4 red terrors I’ve had since 1”

only one with a name is Leroy, I got him first about 7 months ago.

here is day one

been feeding krill, bloodworms, and high quality flake food, and whatever insects, worms, or crayfish I can catch since day one. Had a scare with HILE due to them being in a 25 gallon hexagon for a move, but has since been resolved. Are currently residing in a 55, will be resealing a 150 I have in hand for them shortly. But they have been suprisingly aggression free.

currently housing with dawkinsia filamentosa and an orate Bichir.

Not a sexing thread, but I’m pretty sure their all males, so I’m probably going to get 4 more to hopefully end up with a female for at least Leroy. The rest I can part with eventually.

if anyone would like to see any more documentation in their growth, I have many many pictures so just let me know.

 

[Jexnell]

Love me some Festae!
Here is a male I had for a bit.

 

[Kayden]

Love me some Festae!
Here is a male I had for a bit.View attachment 1540306

Good lookin fella, one thing I love about these guys is how expressive they are,

I can always tell what my fish are feeling lol

 

[Kayden]

Some night shots

need to clean the glass for sure

 

[Kayden]

Yay!!! One of em decided to let me know that it was a female. She and Leroy have been buddy buddy since she’s dawned the new coloring

 

[Kayden]

Sorry for the lack of posting! Lot has happened since last post.
first I moved them all into a 150 gallon tall

everyone seemed fine and dandy until I went on a week long vacation to the Oregon coast, when I got back my female looked like this

and the smaller two were hiding in the top corner, got those guys removed and noticed a small egg cluster on one of the rocks! Very exciting for me! They seemed quite small to be breeding IME with angels and apistos, as those don’t start breeding till near max size. As this is my first romp breeding a large cichlid species I assumed they were going to eat the eggs or be bad parents, sometimes it takes one or two spawns right? Wrong.

they have been swimming around with this cloud of fry for about a week now! We will se if this continues, but they seem like model parents this far!

 

[bkfamus]

Congrats!

I haven't bred festae, but I've noticed, ime, many of my mid to larger growing cichlids started breeding at around 3".. Not all, but some I've had that started breeding young were A. rivulatus, A. stalsbergi, V. bredidohri, T. meeki, G. iporagensis.. Good luck growing them out.. Hopefully no drama between the parents..

 

[Kayden]

All is not well on the western front. Came home Friday to see Leroy ripping the snot out of his girl. She was missing part of her dorsal fin and 30 percent of her scales. Moved her into a the 55 with the other two and she almost kills the smaller one. Now each fish is in their own individual tank. Happy days

 

[duanes]

Maybe this is obvious, but

Above, is the size habitat a male festae (or any largish cichlid) might patrole in its daily routine,
driving away any other male, or unreceptove female away. Including a female he just spawned with, if space seems at a premium.
So when we place a male festae in a 6 or 8 ft tank, while it may seem like a substancial amount of water to a human,
to an adult festae, it is merely a puddle.
So precaucions must be made, to assure safety (especilly for a smaller female) in such a small space.
Many experienced breeders provide incomplete dividers just for this purpose. https://hosting.photobucket.com/alb...s510addc2.jpg?width=320&height=320&fit=bounds

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/i97/dstuer/Lepido/Lepido%20spawn/thru%20the%20divider/.highres/084_zps7186bacf.jpg?width=320&height=320&fit=bounds

 

[bkfamus]

All is not well on the western front. Came home Friday to see Leroy ripping the snot out of his girl. She was missing part of her dorsal fin and 30 percent of her scales. Moved her into a the 55 with the other two and she almost kills the smaller one. Now each fish is in their own individual tank. Happy days

Very sorry to hear.. It can be challenging, but also extremely rewarding if / when you're able to figure it out.. fortunately, it seems you have enough tanks to move them around until you get a combo that works.. maybe some targets could help.. I've used amatitlania and cryptoheros species w/ some success.. but gotta also keep an eye on them as they'll try to breed with anything.. GL