# Wild Festae spawned



## NOLACLS

My new pair of wild festae have spawned for the first time for me...they have spawned a few times for the last owner. This was last friday they laied...today I have a few hundered wigglers...cant wait for them to be free swimming. He is about 11" she is probably 8-9"

I plan to sell the fry




























Good shot of the male


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## Rafael.

Congratulations, great shots and a wonderful couple . =D>

Rafael.


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## redblufffishguy

Really nice looking fish!!


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## MonteSS

Who would want to buy babies from those ugly fish? 

....Bill


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## NOLACLS

MonteSS said:


> Who would want to buy babies from those ugly fish?
> 
> ....Bill


I know huh....I hope about 2-300 people want one...cuz theres a lot of wigglers lol. So where do you want me to ship yours :lol:


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## auratum

Beautiful!

I just acquired a wild couple myself - much smaller than yours, but very nice none the less. The male is ~7" and female ~ 5" but they are making motions to spawn. I am amazed at how quickly and drastically their colors can change! They are sweet fish!!!

Good luck with the fry!

Patrick


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## HiImSean

stunning pair. i'd love to have a pair some day


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## NOLACLS

auratum said:


> Beautiful!
> 
> I just acquired a wild couple myself - much smaller than yours, but very nice none the less. The male is ~7" and female ~ 5" but they are making motions to spawn. I am amazed at how quickly and drastically their colors can change! They are sweet fish!!!
> 
> Good luck with the fry!
> 
> Patrick


Yes I love how fast the color can change...and the male is so good looking now in his breeding colors...nice before but not like this. Here is a shot of them when I got them a couple months ago.


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## nothing else matter

very very very nice pair :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:


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## auratum

Any problems with him pounding the female? I have been very cautious with mine and use a divider that allows the female to go back and forth, but the male is confined to one side.

What are you feeding yours?


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## NOLACLS

He had beat on her some..mainly splashing water out the tank but nothing too damaging. She is kinda big tho so maybe thats why. I am feeding them right now some 3mm NLS sinking pelets. He is very very skittish and she is a little better...so at first he wasnt eatting much...now they eat the pelets before they hit the ground. He just had to get used to me I guess


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## oldcatfish

Great looking fish....what size is the tank? I've bred them before--but still had to use a divider, even in a 125g.


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## NOLACLS

Tank is a 120. 6'x19x21


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## oldcatfish

Have a divider ready, just in case. A. Festae are one of those super aggressive when breeding species that you heard of...and can turn on each other in the blink of an eye. But don't do anything to disturb them if they are getting along ok...just watch them closely and have a plan in place.


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## Rigo

only have one thing to say, u shipping?


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## NOLACLS

Yeah I am going to make one just in case...and I been watching them closely...lucky for me they are in my office at work...it only sucks on the weekends but I come back at night and look.

I do plan on shipping 

Some of the wigglers are startting to swim and venture out to the edge of the pot...then momma sucks them back in her mouth and spits them in the back again.


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## NOLACLS

pics of the swimmers...cant see them all...more in the back of the pot...maybe there are a FEW hundred not a COUPLE hundred lol.


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## damo83

WOW!!  

Very nice festae there mate... I only wish we could get that quality here in Australia! Are you able to ship international? :lol:


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## NOLACLS

lol I would willing but I dont think it would be worth while $ wise for you. But if you wanted a bunch of them...id at least look into if I could even get them there to you. I have no idea. I do know id like to ship myself back to your country...I went there on my honeymoon...amazing...Sydney all the way up to Queensland and out to the GBR and a little stop in Fiji on the way home


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## DeadFishFloating

Not a chance in the world could he ship to Aus, damo.


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## NOLACLS

lol yeah I dont think so either...but I have never tried or looked into it but I would if I could. If I could find someone that does shipping like that to aust. I could sell them my fish and then they could sell/ship them to you. But I dont see that happening.....

At my office we have shipped things internationally...but its a big process...customs...freight forwarders...the stuff I sell at work is more oil field related stuff. But if could find a way to do it I would entertain the idea of it....


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## DeadFishFloating

Australia doesn't allow any fish to be shipped USA into the Country.


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## NOLACLS

Ahhhhhhhh...that was going to be checked out because I know some fish and some country's don't mix...but that definitely squashes that. Sorry yall 

I'd still like to ship myself there for a few months lol


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## NOLACLS




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## redblufffishguy

nice spawn!


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## DeadFishFloating

Hey *NOLACLS*,

What are you feeding the fry? And how are you getting it to them? I could imagine your hand/arm getting attacked if you tried squirting some bbs directly into the flower pot.


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## NOLACLS

I am getting some golden pearl today from kens fish food...its the size of bbs but packed with goodness. As of now I am feeding the parents and they are letting it come out the gills and into the flower pot. I am not sticking my hand in there...not because id get attacked...they are skittish and will swim to the other side of the tank. I have taken some flake food and mashed it in a little water to make a paste...then drop it in at the top of the water and it falls apart to small stuff. Once they are out the pot it will be easier to feed them the golden pearl. I also see the fry picking at the walls of the flower pot where theres a growth of algae and stuff.


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## BigFish77

i would love to get some from you when you grow them out a bit, please PM when you decide a price and shipping etc.
Thanks
Wonderful pics, bet you want to live at your office at times.
:thumb:


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## NOLACLS

I will let you know when there ready...for pricing I was thinking once I get them to an inch 7.50ea or 5ea if you get 10 or more. For shipping I will just charge whatever it takes to get them to you. I have to look into packaging still...but I have a little time still so I haven't yet.

Yes sometimes I come back to work to clean the tanks and to gaze aimlessly. Right next to this tank I have a 90tall that im growing out some F1 peru oscars and some F1 Bahia oscars. And on the other side will be a 4' 120 that im going to move the peru oscars into since they are killing my bahias. I also might be double stacking the festae tank with another 6' 125 with a WC colony of Moba frontosa. So it could be a 14' wall with a 4' 90, then two 6' 120's on top another, and finally a 4' 120. Its going to be real hard to work lol


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## DeadFishFloating

*NOLACLS*,

Mate where do you work? that allows you to have so many tank. A LFS?

I would be very interested to see photos of both species of Oscars, particularly the Bahia Oscars.


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## NOLACLS

lol I used to work in lfs through high school and collage...now I work for momma hahahaha. Oilfield supply company...im the finance manager...and these fish are messing me up...I cant finish my quarterly payroll taxs because im looking at them so much lol.

here are the only pics I have of them right now...the bahias have grown some...but the perus are killing them one by one...I need to get my 120 up. Im down to 2 right now...theres one badly beaten but IDT he is going to make it.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=201615


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## BigFish77

Just looked through your thread on Monster Fish Keepers about your oscars, very nice images. I had no idea about the differences with the collection points. I am just so used to seeing common red, tiger, or albino oscars at LFs.


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## NOLACLS

Thats why I wanted to get some F1's to see how they turn out. The perus really look like they are going to be nice. And since im down to 2 bahias and I cant just get some more I might dith them and just stick with the perus.


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## Blademan

B-E-A-U-tiful opcorn:


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## chochiss

NOLACLS,

Nice pair!!!! Thumbs & legs up for you & your fishes!!! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling:


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## NOLACLS




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## CiChLiD LoVeR128

Very awesome and beautiful pair!!  :thumb:


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## NOLACLS

Weill I moved the fry last night...came in to the office in the dark...flipped the lights on and all the fry were in a ball so they were easy to suck out. They were starting to eat them so it was time. Today he is chasing her all around the tank...and so the process starts again 

The bucket o fry










The storage space that I am going to cram with tanks (and put walls up lol)










The 58gal that now has all the fry. Theres a sponge filter and a fluval 104. I took 80% of the main tank water to fill it and took the bio max out of one of the ac110's and put it in the fluval.


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128

Wow very awesome! That's a ton of fry! :drooling:

Good job and congrats! :thumb:


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## NOLACLS

I did a head count of that bucket shot in MS paint putting a red dot where there was a fish. Some spots were a blurry blob but i was conservative and I think I came up with about 650 fry

Now today he is chasing her all over and his colors are different. the bars almost seem redish.


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## Rigo

yeah i gotta get some of those, i had a young pair form recently but the female took to long to lay, and the male got tired of waiting i came home from work and she was done


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## siklidluvervu

how are the fry Friend? we are all excited to see your progress. cant wait to see them grow up and possible get some. I live in california. would love some to start the new year. you are fortunate.


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## NOLACLS

Well sadly I don't have many left. I only have 50 or so left. After I moved them I would have bouts of massive dieoffs. I couldn't figgure why...now I know. The ph out the tap at my office is 5.5....after airing it over night it's 7.6. I thought it was a false reading with it low. Now I know it's actually 5.5 at first. In the small take if I roped off with water I would have a bunch die the next day or two. So needless to say I only have a few left now. Yall might have to wait untill the next spawn. And the parents are sick right now...don't know what's up...there's a thread on mfk about that too if you want to look.


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## siklidluvervu

how i just found the response. ph problem huh? that's very strange. i'm glad u have 50 left. that is a pretty decent number. they are going to be you're little treasures. i'm sorry to hear that the parents are sick. what is mfk?


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## NOLACLS

yeah IDk whats up with my well water....im about to get a RODI unit. Out the tap is 5.5 and after airstone overnight it goes to 7.6. But even then when I add the water to one of my tanks to top off the small fish freak out some....so I havent added anymore to the fry tank. The ones I have left are still doing great and eating and growing...a couple might be at the 1/2" mark now. monsterfishkeepers.com


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## siklidluvervu

update please.


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## NOLACLS

The first batch is now sold...I only had 45 of them and there were some local people that were waiting since day one. There is a second batch I am about to pull from the parents...there are a couple hundred I believe and I should be able to have more to sell now that I have my tap water under control. These have been in with the parents for a while and some are good sized.


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## Dook

keep me in mind... that is a gorgeous fish.


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## NOLACLS

Will do...I plan to be able to ship...and I will look at this thread and others I have to contact the people that might still want some.


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## Steve.W.

You have a cracking looking pair of fish there. I too have a pair, mine are F1's and have just spawned, they are both around 8" Not much to add I'm afraid, just wanted to compliment you on your gorgeous pair.


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## NOLACLS

Thanks...the male is about 11-12" female is slightly smaller.


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## siklidluvervu

any more spawns or babies for sale?


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## NOLACLS

They should be spawning soon I hope...no fry available at this time tho.


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## cichlidsrule16

let us know when your ready to start selling, I'd love to have a couple


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## gmaschke

I am strickly an African guy myself......... But every time I see a Festae I think "well maybe just one tank for a couple Festae......................."


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## siklidluvervu

funny gmaschke. u need to come out as a south american fan too. there's no harm and plus it's 2012 HAHA.

-will u please post pictures of the pair?


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## gmaschke

Well I am a fan just limited on room and very limited on whats left of the wife's patience. By the way its not quite 2012 yet. But give or take a year I'll give it to you. When I do finally set-up a non-oldworld tank Festae are first on the list and this thread and those pics didn't help my marriage much I just wanted to proclaim that now as I can't get them out of my head.


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## siklidluvervu

haha you re right, i was just reading a trailer about a movie that cause my mind to be confused. ...just get her a nice gift and do it often gmaschke. or get a shed! 

- NoLa please post updated pictures of the lovely pair. i am so curious to see what they look like. u have the star pair and the paparazzi wants to see!


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## bwestgsx06

any more batches?


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## superchargedcichlids

Nice...... Male is awesome. =D>


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## jimmyarcane

WOw, awesome fish. still have pair ?


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