Vieja Fenestratus

[demon_surfer]

Can anyone give me any Information or experiences regarding the Vieja Fenestratus?

I have gone through literally every site google gave me and couldnt find anything on the fish apart from bad pictures.!

any information at all would be appreciated

 

[Sumpin'fishy]

Since Veija species tend to be listed under a variety of generic names in aquarium literature, I'd suggest re-doing a search using the following (most frequently encountered): Cichlasoma, Herichthys, Heros, Paratheraps, and Theraps. Try those and see if you can find any specifics. Hope that helps a bit!

 

[Rare Cichlids]

Fenestratum are probably the smallest and most aggressive Vieja species you will find. Actually, I believe they will be moved back to Paratheraps. But then they would still be the smallest and most aggressive.

Nearly 2 years ago I bought a pair of 5" Synspilum from a semi-local guy. After I got the fish and did some research I realized I had a 7" (without tail) male Fenestratum and a 5" hybrid Vieja.

The pair was placed in a 55g for quarantine, and then went into a 500g aquarium. They bred once a few months ago, and I have som of the fry. But the female was killed somehow, so I haven't had any more spawns.

This fish lives peacefully with Buttikoferi, Citrinellus, Labiatus, Maculicauda, Bifasciatus, Melanura, Uropthalmus, Tuba and Carpinte.

He hasn't grow much at all, and from what I have read his size is typical.

 

[demon_surfer]

yay! thanks rare that is exactly the kind of stuff I want to hear.

can you tell me does your big guy have much of a presance in the tank? does he go after the others?

and thanks sumpin ill check those names out now. I did try just using fenestratus though


do you know if i purchaced a group of these could I put a pike cichlid in with them? maybe a crenichila jegui?

thanks alot!

 

[Rare Cichlids]

Aggressive cichlids behave much differently in big tanks. All of those fish even the Red Devils and Buttikoferi are generally peaceful.

The Fen doesn't let anyone push him around though. He won't think twice about chasing a smaller fish out of his way, but never actually attacks. He's a very personable fish too. Always in the front wanting food.

A pike would probably work in an appropriately sized tank. But you won't be keeping a group (5?) of Fenestrata's in anything short of a couple hundred gallons. Males often kill their breeding parters in tanks over 125g.

 

[demon_surfer]

blah really?

do you have any articles on this i could peruse?

I tried some of the other names and still turned up very little that i could use

 

[Rare Cichlids]

Articles on what?

 

[Marcus]

I have kept and bred hundreds of fennies. They are decidedly nasty towards one another. My main pair was kept in a 125 (anything smaller and I would always end up with one fish). They had a sailfin pl*co and a pair of nics as tankmates. Everything went well until one day the male scaled the female. I pulled her out and convalesced her until well. Not wanting to drop her back into the fray, I removed the nics, redecorated the tank and inserted a divider to allow her to settle in. After 3 weeks she was liplocking through the divider and standing her ground so I let them back together. Took the male less than an hour to kill her this time. The male was around 8" and the female only slightly smaller. Pretty hard to keep them if at that size a 125 is not big enough.

Odd thing is, the male fennie would face off with the pair of nics once in a while but it never went anywhere and the level of aggression between the two species was never overly threatening.

Oh, and one last comment. Fennies are generally believed to max out at 8"-9". There is a guy that posts on another board that has a wild caught pair that are easily 12". Oddly eneough, he keeps his [pair in a 75. So much hard and fast rules!!