V227's bad girl RT Festae

[V227]

Something has made one of my young adult Red Terror females red hot mad. She is in her full
"Don't mess with me" colors. The RT' s really aren't that aggressive relatively speaking. I find their attitudes are more mellow than Convict cichlids and are more like Oscars. They are fish with a lot of personality and are fun to keep.

 

[dalto]

I love festae. Fantastic looking fish.

 

[Brookster123]

It's like Eddie van Halen on a bad night.. She's ready to rock!! Speaking of rock, what type is That? (Not questioning methods, curious because it's sick! Looks like petrified stumps or natural growth.)

 

[V227]

Thanks guys. I've been keeping RT's for about 2 yrs. The pictured rocks are Texas Holey rock. Despite all the bad things you read about both, I keep a colony of RT's together in a community tank with Silver Dollars and a few African cichlids. All three tanks I tend to are hardscaped with holey rock. No ill effects on any of my traditional soft water fish. Probably shouldn't add any holey rock in with your baby discus yet Brookster, lol.

 

[Autumnsky]

Great looking fish even more beautiful hoppin mad, lol!

 

[Jfussell]

Great looking fish even more beautiful hoppin mad, lol!

Couldn’t help but notice that mouth structure I think I would called him “Chomp” ...lol beautiful specimen.

 

[coralbandit]

Great looking fish there !

 

[V227]

Thanks. She is just shy of 10" now. Although she does have strong jaws, doesn't put them to use that often. The Festae change color depending on their mood. Colors range from drab Brown, to yellow / orange with black stripes, to fire red. The males are more solid green with red fins to a light rust color with red fins.
I currently have six Festae in a 120 gal. Three males, three females. Soon I'll have to decide which ones to trade in at my LFS. Not an easy task.

 

[coralbandit]

That would be very cool to breed them !
Not an easy task to remove big fish from tanks period.
Then trying to keep the 2 you want from mixing in with the others can be hard to keep track of. I usually try to catch the two I want and then go after the others without as much trouble..

 

[V227]

That sounds like a very good approach to my situation. I do have a pair that have been trying to breed but my RIvulatus literally knocks them off the nest. I might remove the two and place them in my 65 gal. Reserve tank and see what happens.

 

[Potluck]

I love Texas holey rock just not the price @ $9 a lb at my lfs, it has not increased my pH what so ever, beautiful fish never mess with a female that's angry lol.

 

[V227]

Rick
The most I've paid for Texas Holey rock was 25 cents a lb. The least was 12 cents.
Just check out your local rock yard or landscape company. Likely a huge selection. It was a lot of fun digging through the rockpiles looking for trophies.

 

[Potluck]

Rick
The most I've paid for Texas Holey rock was 25 cents a lb. The least was 12 cents.
Just check out your local rock yard or landscape company. Likely a huge selection. It was a lot of fun digging through the rockpiles looking for trophies.

I don't have them here in Michigan, but yeah 9 bucks a pound is crazy