Pictures of the Discus and Festivums from tonight's dinner

[Ryan]

Be warned: the pics may take a few minutes to load.

I decided to take pictures during tonight's bloodworm dinner. This is about 10 minutes after a 75% water change in the 150 gallon. The tank has 12 discus and 6 festivums in it, plus a handful of ABN plecos.

The pictures are mostly of my pigeons which came from Forrest in July 2006. I've had them just over 17 months now. They came to me as 2" babies from Dan at Gulf Coast.

My roundest female
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/0eb3d1cb.jpg

Same fish
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/875d0643.jpg

Same fish again (no flash)
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/8768926a.jpg

One of the two males... this one shows more of a SS/"White Scorpion" pattern
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/1c08b447.jpg

The other male with his mate
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/b4ec767c.jpg

The pair again (note that the male is preparing to "bow")
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/3d246dea.jpg

Same pair again... the male (right) is showing off
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/bdc417d9.jpg

My turk female from Al... you can also see part of my alenquer female, also from Al
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/e88ab175.jpg

But the real stars of my tank, surprisingly, are my little festivums. I got them as wild-caught imports at the beginning of September, so I've had them for almost 4 months. They came as little guys, maybe 1" or so, but now they're close to 3". The males are filling out and developing the long, pointed anal and dorsal fins. You can see how much they resemble angelfish.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/b0901062.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/cb467bde.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/d8cf05ff.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/c1fbe401.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/11d3139e.jpg

In a few weeks, I'll have 12 new friends from Forrest/Kenny. I'll be sure to post them once they settle :thumbsup: Thanks for looking.

Ryan

[April]

they are beauties ryan. i love the festivums. so much so..i ordered some from the wholesaler to sell and to maybe keep. copycat. lol. heh..im getting ideas of what is cool from you. mine arent wilds though. farm raised im sure..be interesting to see if they differ.
well your discus keeping skills are great.

[Kenny's Discus]

I totally agree with April. You're raising these fish to reach their potential and it takes a lot of commitment daily, which yours showed.

Ryan, what's going on with the pair(s) still residing in the community tank lol?:p I want frys from them!(maybe Forrest wants some too:D)

Keep up the great work!

Kenny

[Ryan]

Thanks April and Kenny.

April, the festivums are like keyholes. They tend to be a little shy and jumpy. One interesting thing about festivums is that rather than diving for the bottom when scared (like keyholes do), they will jump at the top. Make sure you keep a lid on them! They also have bars like most South American fish, but they only show when stressed. Yours will probably be Mesonauta insignis which are the common, original "festivum" that's been tank-raised for the hobby. The only real difference between any of the festivum species are their bars. Each species has two bars that are "fused" or what we'd call broken bars in discus. One species may have the first and second bar fused, one has the third and fourth, etc. Otherwise they are the same shape and size, and have the same behavior. Make sure to take pictures :D

Kenny, the pairs have been left alone because A) I have very little space, and B) they are all still egg-eaters! All of the males eat eggs so far. I figured the more they try, the better they'll be at it. The big male pigeon and his mate spawned a few days ago on the cone but he ended up eating the eggs. My female alenquer from Al spawns weekly with a male PB that he sent, but that male also eats eggs. I doubt an alenquer and a PB would make very pretty fry, so I don't intend to ever give them a breeding tank ;) I thought about screening a set of eggs to see if they'd even hatch in my water, but they eat them before there's even enough to screen.

Thanks again for the comments. I had trouble raising discus for so many years that it's nice to have a batch that turned out really well.

[drd]

Hi ryan, nice looking pictures you have there ;) :D

I wonder one thing, can you tell me how the pics i post get in the bigger size as yours in this thread :confused:

[Elite Aquaria]

Ryan,

Great looking pics...Those fish look like they are very nice size.

[Ryan]

drd, I upload my pictures to Photobucket.com and then I insert them into my posts here. I hope that helps :D

Dan, thank you! They aren't huge but the males are certainly chunky.

[drd]

Ryan i know what you meen ;)
Thanks and i´ll post more of my pics that way now :)

[Kindredspirit]

The best picture you have there, Ryan, ( and they are all very good ) is the one without the flash, IMO.;) All loaded very quickly for me:D

Shows the true colors and the fish as we actually see it, I think! I love your pictures though and your camera! O.K.A.Y....and those odd looking fish too! They remind me of the an Angel fish and some other mix you have or use to have.:)

I like them though, they kinda grow on you ~ I like them better than Angel fish, which I am always trying to mentally mold rounder!

[fishmama]

Those festivums get better looking each new pic I see of them....nice job. And those pigeons are sweet!!!

[tpl*co]

I like festivums too. How would you rate their personality vs angels and discus?

Tina

[Chrisb]

Very nice Ryan, they look very happy.:D

Chris

[Tad]

Ryan,
Looks like your doing an excellent job with some excellent looking fish. 150 gallons with 6 plecos should make for a pretty low maintenance setup.
Also good to see your finally raising discus and not a tank full of angels LOL...

best wishes "Smitty" :D,
Tad

[Ryan]

Thank you everyone.

As for the festivums, I would say they're an interesting and uncommon alternative to keeping angelfish. They chase and nip at each other as cichlids tend to do, but they are mostly passive with the discus and they thrive in the discus conditions. The tank is around 84 degrees F and my pH is around 7.8 or so, with a TDS of ~250ppm. Everything I've read says they need plants and cover because they are shy, but I've gotten them this far in a BB tank and they have warmed up to me. I have no doubt that they'd look amazing in a planted tank but that's not in my immediate future. My only concern is that they may grow large -- some books say 6 - 8".

The discus don't pay them much attention, but they do chase them when spawning. I have a couple female discus that will actually turn sideways and dart at them. The festivums are pretty quick and don't seem too alarmed by this, though. Oh, and on another note, the festivums will harass your ABN plecos. They've never hurt one or anything, but I do see them peck at the plecos occasionally.

I would say if you've kept angels, their personality is very similar. Some will be dominant and bold, some will be shy and passive. They are definitely voracious eaters but most wild cichlids I've kept are that way, including wild angels. If you have the space for them and you see them somewhere, I'd say pick some up :D They aren't real colorful, but they are neat little fish.

Oh and Tad, I was THIS CLOSE to having angels in the 150 with the discus. I was planning to get some of those sweet green-hued leopards from Al. But then I saw these on Jeff Rapps' price list and I knew I had to try them. That's the only thing that kept me from being overrun with angels again :laugh:

Ryan

[jczz1232]

Hey Ryan some nice discus you have and do those little guys do well with discus?

John

[jczz1232]

Ryan what did you pickup from Kenny? Butterfly's?

John

[Rod]

Very nice Ryan, they look super healthy. :)

[Ryan]

Ryan what did you pickup from Kenny? Butterfly's?

Butterflies, Scorpions, and a couple of the albino turk intermediates.


Very nice Ryan, they look super healthy. :)

I jinxed myself. The day after I posted the pictures, a few of the discus started showing cloudy eyes. This isn't the first problem I've had over the last couple of months. I think it's a water quality issue. Anyone that's followed my posts over the years knows I've always dealt with water issues. Let's hope they work themselves out soon. :confused:

[jczz1232]

Sounds good Ryan. Can't wait for my guys.

John

[April]

ryan. my festivums are listed as....Mesonauta festivum
i get them on friday if in stock so we shall see.