New tanganikyan fish

[Somonas]

I just got back from this auction where "I wasn't planning on buying anything". I'll probably flub these names but I got neolamprologus brevis, lamprologus occelatus blue, julidochromis transcriptus gombi, lamprologus busheri Kashese, and juli. transcriptus kissi benga. I got outbid on the others I wanted (breeding pair of juli ornatus, more occelatus blues, occelatus gold, ornatus fry and juli. speciosus. oh well)

anyway I got these guys in q now. I got the busheris in with the brevises, with lots of shells in a 10. and the remaining occelatus golds in with gumbis in another 10. (I lost 2, ). in a 5 is the kissi bengs

I know nothing. about tanganykans. I should have done research but you know how auctions are. has anyone kept any of the above and can offer advice? I am probably going to make a 40 gallon with some glass I got, and put some of the above in there. with sand rocks and shells
suggestions? all fish are 1/2 = 3/4" with a few 1" busheris.

 

[chompchompdie]

You might run into some aggression problems if you try to house the two julidochromis species together. Julidochromis are notoriously rough on conspecifics....doubly so once they start to breed. The usual process for finding a pair is to start with a group of six juviniles and remove the extras once it becomes obvious that a pair has formed. From experience, it will be very obvious that a pair has formed....they will keep all others pinned to the top corners of the tank and be quite intollerant of them. I would avoid keeping the more aggressive transcriptus gombi ( actually a mislabled marleri variant) with the kissi bemba in the same tank unless it is huge and has ample room for territories.

Having issued the warnings I hope you enjoy these wonderful fish! I have a breeding pair of Transcriptus Gombi in one tank and they are amazing to watch. The way they swim could keep me entertained for hours. They are excellent parents and will sometimes set up brichardi style colonies. The parents and older fry will guard the younger fry together. These fish are tough as anything and can fend for themselves in tanks with much bigger fish check out the forums on www.cichlid-forum.com and http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~rodpick/julidochromis.htm Feel free to ask me anything!

 

[levia7han]

Lucky. I have been looking all over for those little buggers. They are pretty easy to keep from what i have read. Chomp got some links for ya. But try this one

http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/shellweb/shell_intro.htm

That should cover your shellies.

As for your julies ya. I think there might be some aggression problems if there is a breeding pair.

They are rock dwellers. So if you can get some nice lace rock with lots of hidey holes for them it will be nice.

I bet I have this totaly wrong but i would think that you could keep julies and shellies together in a larger tank as the shellies stick to the bottom and the julies stick to rock work. So there isnt much over lap in territory. But as with all cichlids it seems once a preeding pair forms everything changes.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Sounds good

Don't you hate buying fish when you really don't need anymore

Get some pics up ASAP!

 

[chompchompdie]

I keep n. multifaciatus (small shell dwellers) with my breeding pair of julies and they seem to leave eachother alone for the most part. ocellatus are a little larger and more aggressive than multies so they should be fine. I have found that once the julies have paired and are breeding they need relatively little space. Mine occupy a 8inch x 6inch rock pile and seldom leave the area.

 

[levia7han]

I also hear that when they do pair up and claim territory that if you move the rocks that the male or female may kill the other one.

Lev

 

[chompchompdie]

In my case moving decor around hasen't caused any problems. I have read that it isn't the moving that caused such bitter "divorces" but the loss of fry that occurs when you seperate the parents from the fry. Probably has a lot to do with the personalities of the fish too!

 

[TaffyFish]

yes, Chomp, my male julie transcriptus went ballistic when I tore down the tank to remove the majority of his 30 offspring - he went at everything, particularly his mate and my breeding pair of leleupi. I had to remove him in the end and have left the mother and about 6 of their young.

as has been said, it isn't a good idea to have 2 varieties (or species) of julie in the same tank. I kept ocellatus and multies in the same 20g tank and the multies bred, so you shouldn't have problems with ocellatus and brevis as long as you have enough shells and in separate areas. Julies will go fine with shellies but I would watch the neolamprologus buesheri - they are part of the brichardi complex and very intolerant of other species once a pair has formed to start spawning. It's usually best to keep brichardi (and complex) in a species tank to breed. Actually, after the 4th spawn I took my breeding pair out and moved them into the community tank since when they have established a territory between the julies and leleupi - I'm hoping that they won't breed again but am sure they are already going for it.....plan is that predation by the calvus, synos and tret will keep the population under control.

anyway, I would recommend that you keep one shellie species and one julie species in each of your 10's whilst they are small (then 20g's would be better) and consider a bigger tank (30g+) for the buesheri. In a 40 I would think that you could keep brevis, ocellatus and one of the julie varieties, so you'd need another tank for the second julie and the buescheri. They might be OK if at either end of a 30......

 

[Somonas]

I can keep occelatus and brevis together? won't they cross?
(they look similar).
I was only able to watch the tanks during feeding last night... they are eating which is always good. I need to get some decent food. what is recommended? regular flakes or frozen brineshrimp?
one of the occelatus blue was defending a shell which seemed odd for day 2 in quarantine. julies are fine, beucheris seem to be picky a bit. the brevises were flaring at eachother while eating food.
they definately have personality these little cichlids. I cant wait to see them out of Q.

 

[TaffyFish]

ocellatus and brevis should not look too similar, unless they are very young juveniles,... are they? I don't think they will cross.

ocellatus have a distinct bulldog type face with eyes very high on the head, even slightly above the head and little interorbital gap.
brevis should appear more like multies and similis...

I feed all my Tanganyikans a mix of Tetra Prima, Hikari Cichlid Gold and Hikari Tropical Mini Pellets (all 3 part whole and part crushed), once or twice a week they get Dutch Recipe frozen cichlid diet.

Initially my brichardi were also very picky and reluctant to take dried food if they thought frozen might be on offer, eventually they learned they would only get frozen once a week and now love Tetra Prima.

yes, you'll fall in love with the shellies, they have character in disproportion to their size!

 

[TaffyFish]

how are they all getting on Somonas?

btw - my brichardi bred again in the middle of a 4 ft tank and all the other fish are being kept at one end or the other! They are good parents and predation rate is zero so far!! :-( Fortunately most of the rockwork is at either end of this tank.

Just like a pair of multies, the brichardi cleared away the substrate from around their chosen rocks and built up ramparts to mark territory and keep the fry in.

 

[UKSouth]

I am starting to learn that to have success with Tanganyikans is to stock them lightly. In my 40 gallon I now only have

2 x Juvenile Calvus
4 X Ocellatus
2 x Juli. Ornatus
2 x Cyp Leptosoma (I know you should keep them in larger groups but the male and female hang out all the time and seem perfectly happy, my 40 gallon just isn't big enough for a larger shoal)

The tank does look a little empty at times but the fish are thriving.

Taffyfish I am still saving hard for my 400 litre, can you imagine what you could stock in there! My LFS stocks them for £570, a little too much to put on my Christmas List.

Happy Christmas.

 

[Somonas]

They are doing well. the Bushceris are rejecting my spirulina flakes which means I need to get some real flakes for them. they ate brinehsrimp last night. the shelldweller brevises like their new 15 with sand and shells. I can see where they dug holes and move sand around. I finally have a use for the 100+ snail shells I broght back from Lake Malawi.
I just got some seachem Tanganyika buffer and Cichlid Salt in the mail today. I want to see how they improve with this stuff... does anyone have the ingredients of this stuff so I can make my own?

 

[TaffyFish]

Alright UKSouth?! Nice to hear from you.
Why don't you buy second hand? There's often a bargain to be had on eBay, also try www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk
I've just got that Trigon 350 I was after, from a guy in Portsmouth who was downgrading. Only 7 months old, paid only £300 - I think they're £520 trade at the moment. Seen lots advertised at over £600!! there was another that went on eBay on the weekend for £370, in Dunstable IIRC

I'll be moving the contents of my 55 into that, switching the brichardi's back to the 35 and setting up a corner for the ocellatus. My ocellatus had 3 young but they only lasted 4 days, think either another male occie had them or the synos! Am sure they'll have another go soon. I think you're spot on about stocking lightly, but the temptation for just one more fish is often too much.....! Have a great Christmas yourself too.

Hi Somonas, sorry don't know the recipe for the Seachem stuff, I use Kent AF. Actually, I am switching from their Cichlid Chemistry (Epsom salt and sodium bicarb in the main) to Liquid Trace Elements, along with my own mix of cichlid salts based on SoulFish's recipe only much, much less marine salt.

 

[DanL]

Originally posted by Somonas
I just got some seachem Tanganyika buffer and Cichlid Salt in the mail today

Somonas...
You can save yourself some money and use Baking Soda instead of the Tanganyika buffer and Cichlid Salt... the baking soda will raise your kh which will also raise your ph.

I have a wild caught colony of 8 Lamprologus Ocellatus in a 29gallon tank. I put a media bag full of crushed coral in my AC 300 and slowly added 1tsp per 5 gallons of baking soda to my water. My water is ph-8.4 kh-14. My first spawn from one of the females was 16fry, hatched on 12/06/03. I also have another female that is gaurding eggs in her shell right now.

 

[Somonas]

Yes I have done the baking soda/epsom salt thing with the Malawis. I am more interested in getting the trace elements.

 

[TaffyFish]

Kent do liquid Rift Lake Trace Elements in their AF Cichlid range....I picked up a couple of bottles on the weekend and so will now stop using marine salt with my Epsom salt/bicarb of soda recipe.