Mesonauta festivum

I was out and about, checking stock in the various local fish shops, but not expecting anything interesting, as "interesting" is not typical. My final stop was to be at PetsMart, where they almost always carry cardinal tetras, as it has been over a week since my last additions and I am ready to had two or three more to slowly build my school in the 150. I am not sure ultimately how many I want in there, but I have 8 (or 9?) and am not done yet. I have found adding larger groups at one time seems to result in a higher casualty rate, and am following the sage advice of my friend, Deborah, who suggested I get 2-3 at a time, and increase their number slowly.

I was at the Broad Street Fin & Feather, a relatively new store where they are slowly building their own fish department, and spotted a trio of very small Mesonauta festivum, and was tempted. I have seen them in this shop before, but I had decided, I thought, that their similarity to angels made them a poor choice to add to the 150, detracting from the "feature" fish currently in residence. I really wanted to get more P. leopoldi, but their price tag is a major factor. I know people spend a heck of a lot more than $30 on fish (saw some wild caught discus recently being offered for $100 each) and many would consider that to be a reasonable price for a relatively rare wild caught species, but for me, right now, I have trouble justifying it.

I thought I had decided that I would get an Apistogramma sp. pair and add them to the 150, but in my research, viewing photos and seeing them in shops, they are just not sparking my interest at this time, for some reason. Fish need to grab my attention when I pick a new species to try, and these little dwarf cichlids are, currently not doing it for me at the moment. That is not to say they would make a lovely little addition to the 150, since it is a very appropriate tank for them, with all of the plantings, leaf litter, wood and caves behind the stands of stem plants. One day I will see some that will grab me, but not this time.

I have the 37-gallon in my office, in between my desk (with the 10-gallon tank containing Otis, the figure-8 puffer) and the wall with the 40-gallon angelfish breeding tank. The 37-gallon is aquascaped in a very spare and subdued way, but is very attractive, and is just sitting there with apple snails gliding by. It will be a while before I need the space for the angel fry to grow out, assuming I still have as many as I seem to have now.

To make a long story longer, I left the Fin & Feather shop to see what else was out there, to get my cardinals, and to see if I would talk myself out of the festivums. I went all over town and there is not a cardinal to be had, unfortunately. After I left the grocery store and was heading home, I decided I'd go ahead and get the festivum, and put them in the 37-gallon. What the heck. I really like them and want to keep them. They are small, about the size of a quarter, and are eating and doing well so far.