Festivum for the Rest of 'Em

Or, more correctly, "Festivus for the Rest of Us." Festivum is an old moniker that I have trouble giving up.

Yesterday I spotted some very fine-looking M. festivus types at the LFS. They had excellent color, good size, and were reportedly eating anything that went into the tank.

Several months ago I expressed an interest in getting more when talking to the people at the shop, since I took all they had (3) and subsequently was left with only one, but as time went by they did not get any more in, and I thought I might just stick with the one, since they are likely to get bigger than the leopoldi angels, and I did not want pairing up of that species in this tank.

Lo and behold, they got more in. The chap told me he ordered them "specially for you..." and I immediately felt guilty! I should not have - these fish move pretty well for them, and they were stocking them long before I came along, but...... I was tempted. They really are very nice looking fish.

I went home and decided to trade some angel babies for the festivus. Today I netted out 4 of my largest babies, which could be considered quarter-sized, but not quite. I was hoping for a good price for them. They were very well received, and even though I was quoted a price much less than the price of the festivus, he took the 4 angels in a straight trade. He commented about how nice the angels looked, and how they had red in their dorsals, which is not often seen in domestics. These really do look more like wilds than you commonly see in the shops, so I know they will be good sellers. He wants all of them, and I assured him I had many more.

I am going to sell a few more that are of a decent size, but I still have many that are extremely wee, and I hope they will grow as the tank thins out a bit. Once they get a bit more size on them I will be happy to pass them on. This has been a very interesting experience, and I look forward to future spawns by Frank & Agnes. They are throwing very fine-looking fry, with hardly any culls.