What now?

[seered247]

Well I am keeping a Red Terror a true festae. Against what everyone has told me. Everyone to date has discouraged me from keeping this fish because of the aggresion levels, but this is my all time fav fish :) Anyways he has taken out 2 pleco's a gold nugget and a clown zebra, is there any pleco that can stand up to this brute?

[Jason_S]

Well I am keeping a Red Terror a true festae. Against what everyone has told me.

*trying to figure out the point of giving advice to someone who admits to ignoring the advice that he/she asked for *

Anyway, what size tank is this festae in and how big is it? Also do you know for sure if it is male or female and is there anything else in the tank?

Jason :)

[seered247]

well he is in a 220 with 5 silver dollars and also a large pictus. He is best buds with the pictus its wierd. But the only reason that i ignored such advise in the first place is because this is my fav cichlid. Im pretty sure he is a male.

[seered247]

But anybody wanna Help?????

[Jason_S]

Ok, now I'm having trouble understanding why people told you not to get a festae. You certainly have a big enough tank, and it's not overstocked unless there are other fish you're not telling us about. If I were you, I'd up the number of silver dollars and pictus cats, and add the largest gibbiceps pleco you can find.

However, before deciding for sure on that gibbi, how big is the festae?

Jason

[seered247]

He's still a baby i want him to have plenty of room to grow and not have any stress from another large cichlid! He is my baby!LoL hes in there and only about 2 inches. No stress just happy! :)

[Vip]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jason_S
[B]*trying to figure out the point of giving advice to someone who admits to ignoring the advice that he/she asked for *

ROFL jason :rofl2:

[seered247]

fine i see how it is i get a festae. thats not ignoring advice people just discourage it because they dont have the tank space and or the enjoyment i get from the fish so whatever think what you need to and have a good day!

[Solace]

I went back and read the thread I think you are talking about.

They weren't discouraging you from getting a festae they were discouraging the combinations you were picking. Seems the advice they were giving you was pretty much dead on target don't you think? How many fish has the festae killed so far? It is a combination problem, not a problem with selecting the festae in and of itself.

By all means if you have the space and are willing to dedicate that space to that one fish get whatever you want as long as you can responsibly maintain it. Putting other less agressive fish in with a highly aggressive fish is simply giving the aggressor something to kill. To me that is just a little on the irresponsible side, and a wee bit expensive.

[seered247]

hes only killed 2 plecos thats it its not like im puttin in tetras or like a gourami. I just need to find a pleco that will work but yes i am dedicating the 220 to him and hopefully a female after a while!

[Seedy]

When I first saw this thread, I started looking for a mean ole pleco to recomend to you...however after thinking about what that fish had allready killed, I gave up...I recomend the same...

I think after losing all those plecos, I would have given up on having a pleco in that tank...and I love plecos!....

[seered247]

Ok well looks like i have to have a battle each time i scrape the algae! Well what about a herd of apple snails?

[highplainsdrifter]

Soon, you'll be able to throw cattle to that fish!:smoke2:

[seered247]

yea or maybe some annoying people. im jk anyways thanks for the advice folks!

[Jason_S]

Ok, now I'm having trouble understanding why people told you not to get a festae.

I do hope you saw that in my second post. After you posted the size tank they were in I found it difficult to understand why people were trying to discourage you from getting festae because you obviously have a tank large enough. However, it will be tricky to find out what you'll be able to keep with him.

If the festae is only 2" then I can't see why he'd be killing plecos unless the plecos themselves were really small and he's just trying to eat them. I'd try to get a 4-6" pleco. I'd imagine he wouldn't mess with a plec 2-3 times his own size.

By the way, A. festae are not sexable at 2" so you'll have to wait a while before you know for sure what sex he/she is. Also, I do hope you know they are relatively slow growers. I've had my pair for well over a year and the male is now only 6-6.5" and they've been in a 125 their entire lives. They are great fish though and I love them. They, along with my Astatheros robertsoni are my 2 favorite species of cichlid.

Jason

[hetha]

Hi Seered, if you really want a pleco look for a 4-5" Adonis pleco.
They are pretty hardy and their little spines usually teach the aggressive fish not to nip.
-hetha

[seered247]

Tossed in a 7" sailfin today and the festae hasnt had a problem yet. well see about tonite?

[Jason_S]

a 7" sailfin should be ok. I've found them to be the most aggressive of the various species of pleco that I've kept. Also, the fact he's so much larger than the RT will help a lot. I'm still surprised that such a small RT killed 2 other plecs though. I hope all goes well...festae are awesome fish. It took me a couple of years to find them, but once I did I picked some up in a hurry :D .

Jason

[seered247]

yea it seems the true red terror is harder to find than the cheap knockoff the ura. i have a guy at my LFS that will order anything for me for free. I go in there way too much:)! but i do have to wait a while before it comes in.