Festivum Id (Pics)

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

Here are my festivums Bonnie and Clyde, can anyone tell me which species they are?

 

[Wills]

Hi it depends on catch location if they are wild or where their relatives came from if farm bred. It also goes on stress bar counts which I cant see here so you might have to work that bit out - found an article on cichlidforums that is really good for this
 
http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/is_that_a_festivum.php
 
I have broken it down here to the important bit.
 
M. insignis - Rio Negro and Rio Orinoco. 7 faint vertical bars. 2 and 4 are joined and the scales above the diagonal "flag" bar are reticulated.
 
M. egregius - Rio Meta, Colombia. Bar 3 divided into two.
 
M mirificus - near Iquitos, or Pebas. Divided bar 3 and there are think horizontal lines above the diagonal flag bar.
 
M. festivus- Southern Peru, Bolivia and in Paraguay. Bars 5 and 6 are joined.
 
M. acora- Rio Xingu and Tocantins. Divided bar 4
 
M. guyanae- Essequibo River in Guyana.
 
I think you have M.Insignis because they have the reticulated scales at the top - see how the light reflects differently to on the side. But this might be the photo. They should occasionally show their stripes and that is the best way of working it out.
 
BTW I LOVE the combo of Diamond Tetras and the Festivums absolutely gorgeous combination!! Do you have a thread about your stocking plans or other fish you have with them - really interesting tank here
 
Wills

 

[TooManyChoices]

God I think Festivums are beautiful!

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

Thanks maybe I'll start a journal showing the tank as I stock it. Right now it is just the festivums and 3 tetra, I would have more tetras but these 3 were all the lfs had left right now. I will be adding more as soon as their next shipment gets in.

I managed to get a pic of Clyde all striped up when the lights came on this morning protecting Bonnie lol. They're still a little skittish when the lights first come on but they're definitely more bold than when I first got them. I'm still having a hard time determining the species, looks like a few of the bars are joined to me.
Are the bars numbered from nose toward tail? Or the other way around?

 

[Wills]

I would have more tetras but these 3 were all the lfs had left right now. I will be adding more as soon as their next shipment gets in.

 
I have a group of Flagtail Catfish that are all like that - all three are from different shops and were the last one in stock... Eventually want to get 6 of them lol.
 
A group of Spotted Headstanders would look fantastic in this tank! And something like a Skunk or Panda Cory for the bottom to keep with the stripes
 
Anyway back to the Festivums The male is actually quite hard to count the bars as they are a bit unusual in shape - you would normally expect them to be a bit more regimented the females look like a better candidate to do it off though. Im reasonably certain they are Insignis though - on the female you can kind of see some merging of the bars to suggest it is M.Acora but they are pretty rare and you would probably know thats what they were or at least they would have been labeled as something like Rio Xingu Festivums etc...
 
Did the store list where they are from?
 
Wills

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

I will try to get a clearer pic of her with her stripes but most of the time if she's striped he is right there guarding her lol. I think you may be right with m. Insignis , but I also had the thought that if they are tank bred could they be a hybrid?
They only had them labeled as Festivum and when I asked if they knew the scientific name nobody seemed to know.
Funny you should mention panda cories, I was debating between keeping a school of them or a few pictus cats. I am planning on adding some Apistos as well so I wasn't sure about bottom aggression.

 

[Wills]

Apistos will work great You could go for Panduro so you get the steel blue male which will compliment the other metalic fish and the yellow and black females will go nice as well with the yellow on the festivums
 
You could be right with the hybrids - the blended lines are sometimes a give away but the female does look quite clear so the male could just be an "odd one" lol.
 
I would be careful with the Pictus as they can be very irratic and the tank your looking at is full of quite calm fish so the Cories might work better.
 
Wills