Festive Fun

While it might not perhaps be as colourful as some other aquarium fish, or indeed as its name suggests, the Festive Cichlid (Mesonauta festivus) has nevertheless charmed aquarists for a very long time and has been a perennial favourite in the hobby for over a hundred years. 

Found very commonly in the Parana and Amazon River Basins of South America, it was first described in 1840, introduced into the hobby in 1908 and first bred in captivity in West Germany in 1911. Its innocuous and pleasant personality means that it gets along well with most other peaceful fish and plants, and while on the one hand, they are normally timid and easily frightened, on the other hand, they will grow to a reasonable size and can become territorial and even aggressive when breeding, so their tank mates should be chosen with care. 

But just like the wrapping on a mysterious Christmas present, the Festive Cichlid’s name can be deceiving, and despite their long familiarity, it was only in 1991 that a scientific paper was published explaining that the simple "Festivum" was actually comprised of a number of similar, biologically distinct species. Today the Mesonauta genus is known to be very complex, made up of not one, but a group of at least five different species. However many aquarists don’t seem to care about the particulars of which species their favourite “Festy” belongs to, instead preferring to enjoy their calming, peaceful behaviour in the aquarium.