Festivum cichlid aka Mesonauta insignis

[CK Yeo]

Bought these 2 months ago to shoot and they looked like what they did in the LFS: plain. So boring that I didn't even want to post it.







Dumped them in one of the tanks in the bottom tier and forgot about them. Decide to clear space today and boy have they coloured up.



Colour and pattern darkens with mood. (I scared them a bit)




I hope I got their name right.
In case anyone of you wants in in your planted tank, please think twice. It is currently chewing up my valisneria and java moss.

ck

[genes]

Shot them once too. I love the 3rd pic! Great colours!

[rafimo]

Not to give a bad press about the fish....but you are right. they will eat up your plant in the tank slowly..tearing up all the leaves.

[hwchoy]

I like the first pix (of the new series) for the documentational value

[CK Yeo]

Thanks all.
Since the fish is so infrequently available in the market and not very popular, I doubt anyone locally has spawned them?

Anyone knows how to sex them? Or is it typical to get a bunch of them and let them pair off themselves as with Discus/angel fish?

ck

[quix]

Are these very aggressive eaters? What do you think of keeping them with discus?

[trident]

ck,
Pic 2 is nice, better finage

[CK Yeo]

Jay, no idea with discus. But I think they do exist in the same biotope.

Richard, Yes, I like #02 better too. They do flare but are rather hard to catch a perfect flare.

ck

[exotic_idiot]

Looks more like gourami than cichlid?

[stormchild]

Looks more like gourami than cichlid?

More related to angelfishes than gouramis. but yeah, resemblance is there.

[unsung]

Nice photo taking skill of these rare fishes.

[SCOPE]

Jay, no idea with discus. But I think they do exist in the same biotope.

Richard, Yes, I like #02 better too. They do flare but are rather hard to catch a perfect flare.

ck

Bro, where do you brought these?

[CK Yeo]

Seaview. Last visit didn't see any.

ck

[benetay]

Looks like key hole cichlids. Very nice!

Cheers!

[illumnae]

I saw some at Seaview yesterday CK

[CK Yeo]

ops. I must be distracted by the nice congo tetras I saw.

ck

[SCOPE]

i guess these should be quite tame.
Do they show agressiveness towards others fishes?

[root]

these are real nice and well shot!!

would surely go well in an altum setup...

[bryan]

Seaview do throw up some nice SA/CA cichlids once in awhile at pretty reasonable price. Buyers have to know their stuff though.