# Pics of My Baby Festae :)



## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I got these guys (10) from someone at the OCA extravaganza for $6.... Not $6 a piece! $6 for all ten! Just thought I'd share since they're so personable  Right now they're in a 185, 5'x2'x30" tall. They're in with four Keyhole cichlids. Once they get a little bigger they'll come out, for now they range in size from 3/4"-1 1/4".














































Anyone else have any festae? Lately I've been on a SA cichlid kick and am havin'a blast!

Comments or questions are always welcome!


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

they're very cute arent they? i always wanted festae or a mayan, wouldnt matter to me.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

They're funny! Lots of personality :thumb:


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## DarkMatter (Dec 19, 2007)

How big do they get?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

12" 

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=503


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

i think the profiles are wrong, i believe they can attain 16" everywhere except here lists it as 16" anyway.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

16" is probably the world record and not standard aquarium length. If you read the tid bits at the bottom of a profile it explains that...


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

i thought the world record was 20" :? , oh well, their still cute little things, as are all baby cichlids, are they very personable at that size?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Oh yes, they swim right up to me and my family.... Even my son banging on the glass :lol:


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

:lol:, sounds just like my baby flowerhorn.


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## roman_back (May 8, 2007)

just ordered one.. it was $5.99 and is 2inches u got a great deal!


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## Feral Wolf (Mar 10, 2006)

i cant even come close to that deal, avg $8 around here, very nice fish, TFG. good find


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

The funny thing is... They were on my list to find at the show and when I went to the guys room who had them he was sold out of everything and had packed up and gone :? Then someone asked what I was looking for and then directed me (in the form of a discription) who it was that bought his entire stock of festae.... so th hunt was on. I knew the guys name and what he was wearing :lol: I took me two hours to find him, and when I did he ended up being a great guy and gave me a great deal :thumb: I'm sure he offered the original seller a deal to buy all the fry but I didn't care, I was willing to pay $5 a piece for six of them.... and ended up getting 10 :lol: I'm not quite sure what the heck I'm going to do with all of them but it'll be fun figuring it out :thumb:


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

I know, it's not like you have any tank space. What are we working w/here, a 55G w/a spare 20L if problems arise??? :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

:roll:

:lol:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

imusuallyuseless said:


> I know, it's not like you have any tank space. What are we working w/here, a 55G w/a spare 20L if problems arise??? :lol: :lol: :lol:


Actually it's two fish bowls and a glass of water....


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

So your Avatar is Tom Thumb in the glass of water right :?:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

:lol: :lol: :lol:


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## roman_back (May 8, 2007)

at what size do these fish get red?? seen alot of juvies and they are just silver looking with the black bars and verry little hints of reds and violets in the fins. but when do they color up to look somewhat like an adult and when can u tell male vs female??


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## terd ferguson (Jul 31, 2007)

roman_back said:


> at what size do these fish get red?? seen alot of juvies and they are just silver looking with the black bars and verry little hints of reds and violets in the fins. but when do they color up to look somewhat like an adult and when can u tell male vs female??


Females will usually have a lot of black on their dorsal fins. Spangles (some say indicate male) are present on my 7" female's fins. Spangles by themselves aren't neccessarily a good indicator of male or female. You will probably start to see good coloration between 4" and 6". Better food usually equals better coloration. :thumb:


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## roman_back (May 8, 2007)

well i got mine and its about 2.5 inches, alot bigger than TFG's and its silver and has black vertical bars and has the hint of violet and orange in its upper and back fins. do these fish grow slow?fast? i know they get very large and verry mean, figured i would let it grow out in my 140 in a community setting untill agression arose then buy a new tank and have a wet pet. :thumb:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

According to my calculations they should grow about 1/3 of an inch a month. After 8" I don't have enough data.

As per coloration I'm curious as to when the orange and blue start to explode. Mine right now at an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half have some red on their dorsal fins and that's about it. I just noticed it last week.


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## terd ferguson (Jul 31, 2007)

roman_back said:


> well i got mine and its about 2.5 inches, alot bigger than TFG's and its silver and has black vertical bars and has the hint of violet and orange in its upper and back fins. do these fish grow slow?fast? i know they get very large and verry mean, figured i would let it grow out in my 140 in a community setting untill agression arose then buy a new tank and have a wet pet. :thumb:


My female festae grows more slowly than the others in the tank (see my sig). TFG's prediction of 1/3" per month sounds about right. :thumb:


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## terd ferguson (Jul 31, 2007)

TheFishGuy said:


> According to my calculations they should grow about 1/3 of an inch a month. After 8" I don't have enough data.
> 
> As per coloration I'm curious as to when the orange and blue start to explode. Mine right now at an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half have some red on their dorsal fins and that's about it. I just noticed it last week.


I got mine at about 5" or so and that's about when the color started getting really vivid. At about 6", she started getting blue spangles on the dorsal and tail fins and the orange really started coming out. At about 7" now, she just keeps getting better looking. She's still not quite as orange as some I've seen, but the red is very bright. I can also see spots like "glitter" of blue and purple gold on her face, especially under bright light.

As an aside, a few weeks ago when I introduced a new fish (freidrichsthalii), the festae's color got much brighter and very vivid almost immediately (even more so, she already looked good).

***edited to add***

Feeding can have a big effect on coloration as well. In my experience, Hikari Cichlid BioGold has done really well with coloring up new (to me) fishes. A lot of times, lfs feed very lightly to keep their water systems (multiple tanks) cleaner. And they don't always use the best food.


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

I think with a group of 10 your quite likely to get some males with a much faster growth rate then 1/3" of an inch per month. My male went from around 1/2" to 5 1/2" in 5 months before the valve let go on the automatic water changing drip system I used to use. Though in comparison to something like an RD, it is not deep bodied and has an elongated body at that age and was not nearly as big as that length would seem to indicate.

Majic water for sale:http://cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=149197&highlight= :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Unfortunately with as many tanks set up as I have and as many fish that live here food is bought in bulk (as is everything else in a house full of kids) So everything gets fed pond food for aggressive fish made by purina... It's ingredients and make up are very similar to tetras cichlid sticks. But at $17 for 50# I'm not going to be getting everything else. All the other fish seem to love it and their colors are great so we'll see... :lol:

I do not plan to keep all ten, as a matter of fact I do not plan to keep them in this tank... This tank is supposed to be a community for small SA cichlids :lol:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Here's some recent pics for those that care:


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## roman_back (May 8, 2007)

any updates on this tfg? here are a few photos of mine.


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## jcushing (Apr 6, 2008)

great pics everyone! *** always loved festae, beautifull fish!!!!


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## convictkid (Jul 28, 2004)

Those are myans roman_back


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I lost them all :?


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## roman_back (May 8, 2007)

OH MY!! im sorry to hear that.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Yeah well it was my own [email protected]#$% fault... I got impatient and thought they'd be tough enough to handle some other fish seeing as they were taking up a lot of real estate. Dumb....


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

OUCH... thats a harsh loss, but ya know what, everyone makes mistakes, just learn from it, thats all you can do.


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## kingpoiuy (Jun 9, 2008)

And here I thought you were the almighty fish god :wink:


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## jcushing (Apr 6, 2008)

who killed them, you said you had em in with keyholes, it wasnt them was it? mine went after some small corys i had before but other than that they havent been trouble with other fish.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

kingpoiuy said:


> And here I thought you were the almighty fish god :wink:


Was waiting for that...

They were put in the 800 along with many other juvi cichlids and aparently one hungry catfish :?


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## roman_back (May 8, 2007)

tfg.. ya need to post up some photos of this almighty 800 gallon tank, would love to see some of its tennants!!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

:lol: you just saw one haha! I'll shoot some video at feeding time... give me a few days, I'm a little busy....


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## Hubby+Me=3kids&amp;fish (Jul 15, 2008)

They are so cute.... Just another one to add to the list of GOTTA GET!! :lol:


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