# Festivum Cichlid Experience



## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

Hello everyone, i have a 37 gallon tank , i would like to hear your experiences of the festivum cichlid Advice appreciated


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

The Festivum is an excellent SA cichlid. However,it would be better to be more specific in your request...maybe a series of questions that are relevant to it's husbandry. Narrow the focus. I have had Festivums for years but I wouldn't know where to begin to answer your query.


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## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

Like is my tank size okay, how do you sex it, what is its tempermant.


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

Here's a few thoughts. Festivums tend to stay in the upper levels of the tank and can be quite shy. Perhaps having 2 or 3 smaller Geos will help bring them out. Putting in some tall plants and driftwood with good vertical height is recommended as well. You could keep 3 or 4 in this size tank. If they pair, they can be quite aggressive towards con-specifics (their own species). For fish the same age, males are usually quite a bit larger. Here's a pair of my Mesonauta insignis with fry. They stay quite small, not exceeding about 5". Check the foliage and driftwood (they love to lay their eggs on it)


Here's a pic of my larger Mesonauta species - 'festivus'. Males can get to ~8", females about 6". A 37G tank would not be suitable for this larger species.

Here's a link with some further info.
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/c ... escription


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## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

ok thanks


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

Notho2000

I get the feeling that you must have the most amazing fish room. How about some more pictures?


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

Well, it's a "working" fish room. Nothing fancy, but set up mainly for breeding and raising fry. I do have a few so called show tanks. But for the most part, things are plain and simple. Most of my pictures are of fish and not aquascaping. Here's a couple of a SA community tank.
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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

How big are your tanks? I have some Geophagus and a Uaru and know how big they are. Must be at least a 150 gallon tank. Also, I'm curious as to what filtration and lighting that you use.


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

mambee said:


> How big are your tanks? I have some Geophagus and a Uaru and know how big they are. Must be at least a 150 gallon tank. Also, I'm curious as to what filtration and lighting that you use.


The tank in the picture is 180G. It's filtered with a Marineland C-530 canister filter and has a double fluorescent "shop" light, with 2 'daylight' bulbs in it.


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## yamadog (Oct 7, 2012)

What's the fish in the lower left hand corner of the second picture? That guy is a really neat look to him.


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

Satanoperca jurupari?


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## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

Sorry guys, came home from vacation to find out the my festivum cichlid passed. MAn, he was so interesting i was going to get more online because a got him as a mistray. I also know who the culprit is: my BLUE GOURAMI. He seems not to like fish with long pelvic fins he constantly chased him. Came home to find a pale half eaten body in my plant


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

yamadog said:


> What's the fish in the lower left hand corner of the second picture? That guy is a really neat look to him.


Satanoperca leucosticta


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## JoeE (Jun 11, 2012)

notho2000 said:


> Here's a few thoughts. Festivums tend to stay in the upper levels of the tank and can be quite shy. Perhaps having 2 or 3 smaller Geos will help bring them out. Putting in some tall plants and driftwood with good vertical height is recommended as well. You could keep 3 or 4 in this size tank. If they pair, they can be quite aggressive towards con-specifics (their own species). For fish the same age, males are usually quite a bit larger. Here's a pair of my Mesonauta insignis with fry. They stay quite small, not exceeding about 5". Check the foliage and driftwood (they love to lay their eggs on it)
> 
> 
> Here's a pic of my larger Mesonauta species - 'festivus'. Males can get to ~8", females about 6". A 37G tank would not be suitable for this larger species.
> ...


That is a massively huge pair of Festivums. How old are they?

I've got a single festivum in my 120G. He's probably around 10 months old, 3-4 inches. Is there any reliable method of determining which species he is?


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

These fish are approximately 4 years of age. About species identification, the general consensus is that they are notoriously difficult. The best I can suggest is to Google Mesonauta and see what you can find. I'm not even really sure what species my Festivums are. They were purchased as 'insignis' but obviously there were two different species in the shipment, based upon size, color and patterning differences, body shape... and so on.
Jim


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## swifty (Jan 12, 2013)

It appears I have mesonauta insignis. It's about 3.5 inches. Fairly peaceful. It bullied a smaller angel, and took harrassment from a firemouth and jack dempsey. Never took any damage from them, was always too fast for them. The only bad experience I had with mine was that it destroyed almost all of my plants in my tank. I read that they were fine with plants but apparently mine wasn't. It even took bites and ripped up anubias and java fern, two plants I thought were bitter to fish!


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