• You liked BFD7 now you should join this forum and of course become a club member to see what CCA is all about.
  • Thank you to everyone who registered and showed up for the BIG Fish Deal #7.

Fetivums

Greengirl

Members
I just saw Festivum at Congressional Aquarium for the first time and did a double take. At first glance I thought I was looking at weird angelfish. What got me was the ventral fins Festivum have. I have only ever seen those elongated ventral fins on angelfish only. Are festivum related to angelfish at all? Do they have similar temperaments? What are these fish like? I am really fascinated right now.
 

dogofwar

CCA Members
Yes although they're definitely different and a different Genus.

Festivums are great fish and I've kept them in many a SA community over the years.

Some species get big: I had M. guiyayense (sp?) get well over 8" while regular festivums (either M. festivus or M. insignis, most likely) max out at about 6" or so.

Matt
 

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Festivums are nice fish to keep. I've found them to be rather peaceful and don't do well with pushy tankmates.
 

dogofwar

CCA Members
Angelfish have been selectively bred (and probably hybridized) for decades to make them the array of colors that they are today ... no one's bothered with "festivums" :)

Matt

Do they come in other colors? Are they like angelfish with variations and genes?
 

YSS

Members
Angelfish have been selectively bred (and probably hybridized) for decades to make them the array of colors that they are today ... no one's bothered with "festivums" :)

Matt

Which is a good thing. Same for discus. Love the wild discus, but not a huge fan of man bred kind.

I didn't pay attention to the price. but they are about the size of half a postit note (that was the only around me that I could accurately compare their size to.

Thanks!
 

neut

Members
Agree with points above. Nice fish ime. Genus for festivum is Mesonauta, of which there are several species of very similar looking fish, not as much variation as Geophagus, for example. But if you were interested in the different types you'd look for "Mesonauta". More than one species has been misidentified as festivum, especially in the past, before a lot of the current species were classified.

They're related not just to angelfish but discus, severums, and uaru, different genera but all related.
 

JLW

CCA Members
Ok, first off, the name "Festivum" is wrong. Latin words, like all words in Romance languages, have "gender," and the gender of the specific name has to agree with that of the genus. When the fish was in Cichlasoma, they were C. festivum. When they were reclassified as Mesonauta, the specific name was changed from "festivum" to "festivus," to agree with Mesonauta. So, the correct name of this fish is the "Festivus" Cichlid. And, if you're having trouble keeping angels, this is a fish for the rest of us.

However, the name Festivus is even more confused. Most people have never seen a festivus. The fish that is imported into the US is almost always M. insignis. Apparently, the two species are pretty darned similar, though they occur in different regions. Almost all of the exports occur in regions that Insignis occurs in. But, I am letting my nerd flag fly a little too high, and running off on nomenclature. . . . We used "Festivum" as a common name, and really, that can apply to any member of the genus. . . . .

Apparently, at one point, the Festivus was thought to be fairly closely related to Pterophyllum. The two genera share a lot of common traits, and are often sympatric. Kullander recognised this when he resurrected the Mesonauta genus and described several new species.

Apparently, Festivus and Angelfish will form mixed species shoals in the wild. The angelfish will often inhabit the centre of the shoal, with the Festivus on the outside. Festivus are quite a bit more aggressive, robust, and faster. It's kind of like having a group of destroyers around your air craft carriers. The Festivus help to protect the angels, and gain a larger shoal size as a result. Very, very cool.

I wrote an article on this behaviour with some really cool photos back around 2000 or so -- I'll have to look and see if I can dig it up at some point. I think it was titled "Guardian Angelfish: Interspecies Protective Behaviour" or something like that.

JW
 

Becca

Members
I've always loved "Festivums" but never owned them. Really fun to learn something new about them.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using MonsterAquaria Network App
 
festivus

Do they come in other colors? Are they like angelfish with variations and genes?
I got a small(8) batch of 'Blushing M. Festivus' last year from a Fla. wholesaler who got them from a private breeder-They were a whitish fish with the red gills showing through, much like a blushing pB angel. They were doing great and was going to move them into a angel fish grow out tank, when that tank they were in had my last'Stealth death heater' in it and it malfunctioned and off to the great fish tank in the sky(actually my rose garden, never the porcelin highway) they went. The supplier was never able to get more from the guy.
I kept regular 'c. festivums' over 40 years ago. Can be not the easiest fish to breed at times. Angels much easier, but they always did fine coexisting with my angels.

PS- Still fighting with Marineland for compensation not just replacement of the heater. As all 'Stealths' were recalled a few years ago as they had a fatal defect which eventually led to their total recall by Marineland. So be aware if you are still using one. They eventually go.
 

JLW

CCA Members
I heard a rumour that some dashingly handsome guy was giving you some discus, Alexandra.
 
Top