Final Stocking

[bricko]

I would really like to add one final fish to my tank and was thinking maybe a Festivum but I have a few questions I need answering by anybody experienced with keeping this fish previously.

Firstly here is a lowdown on the tank

The tank is 260 litres and powered by 2 external filters (removed the internal) Aquael 500 unimax (1700l per Hour) and Fluval 305 (1000l per hour).

The tank is heavily planted with lots of rock and wood for cover etc. Co2 is added at 3bps.

I perform 1 - 2 x weekly 25 / 30% water change. Stats are Amonia - 0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - trace.

Stocking is as follows;

Fish;
2 x juve Laetacar Curviceps
2 x juve Keyholes (about 2 in long)
7 x denisoni Barb (Red line torpedo barb) currenlty all around 3 1/2 in
2 x adult bristlenose, (also currently fry in tank though these will be removed if / when they get bigger)
2 x Botia Strata
1 x False Algae eater
4 x Panda Cory
2 x Skunk Corey
1 x Bronze Corey

Invertebrates;
8 x nerite snails
6 x Amano shrimp
3 x African blue fan shrimp

Plants;
Lots of amazon sword - background
loads of various anubius on wood - back / midground
Zealandia - foreground

Right then here are my questions, hope you can help

1) Would the boisterous denisoni barbs stress a festivum too much? I have read they don't like too active tankmates.
2) Would a pair of Festivums be acceptable / better alternative? or is a single specimen preferred
3) Would the addition of 1 to 2 Festivum push the stocking too much? Probably the most important question
4) Would the shrimp be safe with a Festivum once it reaches its full potential size?
5) Would the plants be safe? I don't believe Festivums graze heavily on plants but would like feedback from experienced keepers.
6) Would a Festivum compete with the other cichlids at feeding time? The Keyholes and Curviceps are VERY greedy during feeding and a slow Festivum may end up with slim pickings!

Thanks for reading, any help / info is greatly apreciated ,sorry if I have gone on a bit!

Regards,

Mark

 

[minxfishy]

I have no personal experience with Fesitv's, but I believe they would be able to easily hold their own with that stocking, more likely become the more dominant species as from Ive heard they can be pretty active although not overly aggressive and I would say just get one as a breeding pair would likely become a problem, but like I said, never actually owned one, but this will bump up your post for those that know more about them and probably have a better answer for you

 

[bricko]

Thanks Minxfish,

Any other opinions / recommendations?

 

[Cichlid_Crazy]

I kept 2 Juvi and i found they were extremley agressive to eachother also would not back down to other fish....both were under 1" (the only size i could get) and they went into a established tank with a adult Severum, Geos, Blue Acara and Angels and never got picked on....the bullying between the 2 got so bad that one died...they had opposite ends of the tank all the time and would keep eachother out of each others territory's.

The remaining one i kept for 6 months and grew hardly at all...very slow maybe a 1 cm or 2 despite being fed reguarly.

I sold it on in the end with my other fish when i started my old Malawi tank.

 

[SBL]

What would be the minimum tank size for one Festivum?

 

[bricko]

Look in link below;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/68502-festivum-cichlid/

Anybody else got any experience with Festivums in a mixed community tank like mine?