Festivum Cichlid

[meguro]

Is a 180L tank big enough for a festivum cichlid?
Do they prefer to be in groups or is singular fine?
How do they get on with blue acaras?
How do they get on with keyhole cichlids?
How heavily planted should the tank be and how much do they eat plants?
What's the smallest size tetra (or other fish) that they won't eat?

 

[Wills]

I believe they are quite similar to angels, though sometimes you hear of pretty nasty males. They are more of a pairing fish rather than grouping so either go for one or two, with the others I would probs go for 1 dont think they will eat loads of plants but might nip them. Tetra wise avoid small stuff like neons etc, basically if its okay with your BA it should be fine

Which one you getting? Quite a few nice species in the hobby now

 

[meguro]

Thanks for the answers. Probably mesonauta festivus, it's the only one available in australia afaik.

How well do you think a JD, blue acara and festivum could share the same tank (if I put the keyholes in a different tank)?

 

[joshjames]

they dont get along well with angels at all! killed 2 of mine when he was only young
they seemed to leave all my tetras and bottom feeders alone though

 

[Davo86]

Thanks for the answers. Probably mesonauta festivus, it's the only one available in australia afaik.

How well do you think a JD, blue acara and festivum could share the same tank (if I put the keyholes in a different tank)?

It depends on the temperament of the JD but it could work, although personally I would swap the JD for something smaller if they will all be going into a 180L. If you already have keyholes then i think a pair of these, a blue acara and a Festivum would work well with a shoal of average sized tetras and a few corys etc.

In the main Festivums aren't aggressive and being only small-mouthed cichlids aren't likely to do much damage to most species, including medium sized wide bodied tetras like Pristellas or lemons,

Also as said whilst they may nip at leaves most hardy plants should be fine with them

 

[meguro]

I thought the JD wasn't a great idea.

How does this sound:
2x keyhole
1x blue acara
1x festivum
5x yoyo loach
1x bristlenose
8+ dithers

too much or?

I already have 2x keyholes (fairly certain male and female), 1x blue acara (fairly certain male) and 1 bristlenose (fairly certain male again but I don't think that's particularly important =)

Would 2 keyholes be the max? There was another user here that put 5 or so in a ~250L corner tank I think. I've always liked the idea of a group of them but if it's not a good idea then I'll stick with just the two I already have.

 

[Davo86]

Whats the dimensions of the 180L?
I think your stocking could easily work although i'd be a bit cautious of the 5 Yoyos, at 6" fully grown they can be quite boisterous IME as well as being quite heavy on the stocking, I think if you lost these you could easily add another 3 Keyholes and something else for the lower level

 

[meguro]

48" x 18" x 14"
L x H x W

What about squeezing in an SAE?

 

[Davo86]

Yes a SAE should work fine

 

[meguro]

So would

2x keyholes
1x blue acara
1x festivum
1x sae
1x bn
8+ dithers

be a better stock? How boisterous were/are your loaches? Does it only happen during feeding? I was thinking of using tiger barbs for the dithers, would they be ok?

The filter for this tank is an eheim 2217.

edit: changed my mind with keyholes, I'll just stick to the two I have.

 

[Wills]

Yeah that looks good to me, for the dithers tigers could be good but maybe a bit nippy? You could consider Columbian Tetras maybe nice disk tetra bright blue with red fins? Also with the keyholes you could probs go to 3 with 2 females quite easily.

Wills