Festae (Amphilophus festae)

Common Name:

Festae.

Other Names:

Red terror.

Scientific Name:

Amphilophus festae.

Family:

Cichlidae.

Class:

South American Cichlid.

Distribution:

Ecuador.

Size:

Males up to 20 inches with females around 12 inches.

Diet:

Omnivorous and should be fed quality pellets such as Hikari gold, krill, earthworms, algae wafers for vegetable content. Live foods are relished.

Water Temperature:

77-84 degrees Fahrenheit (25-29 degrees Centigrade)

Water Chemistry:

7.0-8.0 ph soft to medium hardness.

Life Span:

15+ years.

Minimum recommended tank size:

For a single male a 120g would be necessary and single female a 75g would suffice. For a breeding pair 120g with divider is a necessity with absolutely no tank mates. With single specimen and tanks mates a 180 is bare minimum and should still be looked over VERY cautiously once the festae is full-grown.

Nomenclature:

The festae is listed under the magnificent genus Amphilophus which is my favorite genus. Before this it was listed as Cichlasoma and then Nandopsis, but Nandopsis is and has always been rarely if ever used. I still also see Heros used frequently.

Breeding:

Breeding these cichlids is known to be rather difficult due to troubles with pairing and the intense aggression. A divider is an absolute MUST with these fish. Festae tend to spawn in caves, so a clay flowerpot would be a necessity. The female will lay as many as 2000-3000 eggs inside the pot with the male fertilizing them afterward. These eggs are larger than most other species. The female will fan the eggs and take care of them while the male guards the perimeter. Shift changes are done in typical but more violent cichlid fashion with vertical displays and flaring. After about 3 day's the eggs begin to hatch and the male will help with removing the young from the shells. Pits are normally dug prior to egg laying and the young will be transferred by the female to these pits where she and the male will help in feeding the young by digging up organic matter from the substrate or sharing their own portions by crushing it and sifting it through their gills over the pits. The young become free swimming after about 6 day's and can be fed, daphnia, cyclops, nauplii, baby brine shrimp and finely crushed flake. After the young are around 3/4" they should be removed from their parents quarters.

Description:

Festae are one of the most colourful species of neotropical cichlids especially during spawning. They have a gold back ground with light black stripes running vertical on the body unless breeding where they are dark and the gold turns a bright yellow. There is also hint of red on the under side, the face and forehead. This also intensifies during the breeding period. The fins are dark reddish purple. The female is typically far more colorful than that of the male, which can be seen with mojo's pair. The temperament of the festae is up there with the best of them. Very belligerent even when not spawning. They have been known to be one of the top 5 most aggressive species over all by many hobbyists. They are down right mean to make it simple. They are slow growing fish (about half an inch per month if you're lucky) and don't really get to this severe temperament until they are close to being fully grown in most cases which would be males 20 inches and females are around 12 inches. Tank mates would only be included if there is plenty of tank space and they would include tinfoil barbs, silver dollars plecos and other similarly sized and temperamental cichlids only if as I've said, there is PLENTY of tank space. You can't really depend on the size issue to much because I just recently heard a story about a 5 inch festae beating a 7-8 inch male dempsey to within an inch of its life, so sometimes they start young as seen there.

Sexing:

Sexing these fish isn't the simplest of task's when young but once they've aged a bit, the female will display a lot more reds than the male normally and she will have a blue blotch on the dorsal fin extending from the front to the mid section whereas the males is one color. The male will also have significant size on the female.

Miscellaneous:

Festae are gorgeous fish and have plenty of personality and attitude, but I do not recommend these fish to beginners mainly due to the size and aggression these fish obtain. They need large living quarters just for themselves. A special note also is that, the females of this species is one of very few species that are more aggressive than the males. This isn't always the case, but most of the time the female is more aggressive of the two.

Photo Credit:

Photos supplied courtesy and ^© Aquamojo