Picture Time! (dial-up warrning)

[Orion]

I was very surprised to see that these came out as well as they did. I took them this morning in quite a rush. Over the next few days, hopefully the cyps will have settled in more and I can get some better photos of them. And over the next few months as the males mature, I can get some really great photo's. Of course, next time I guess I really should clean the front glass of water spots first.... Please look over them.

Ladies and Gentelmen I present to you:
Cyprichromis leptosoma 'Utinta'

 

[UGAfan2001]

those are some really nice photos. i love how theyre schooling like that. what size tank are they in? good job again!!

Brad

 

[phOOey]

awesome *thumbsups

any idea of the male to female ratio yet? looks like you've got plenty of lovely males anyway, and lots of females to get them, erm.... excited *crazysmil

 

[Orion]

Next up...

Synodontis multipunctatus:

You can see, the multipunctatus have taken a liking to dive bomb the multifaciatus colony. They do not like this one bit. The alpha male multifaciatus has been kept busy chasing the cats away from the colony. The cats have been known to eat fry, and Lord knows the shellies have plenty of those, so I figure thats whats going on.

 

[Orion]

The ratio right now is looking close to 1:1. Hard little things to count while swimming and I don't know why I didn't look while I was transfering them to the tank, but I counted 7 males. I may have to remove a few males, but that just gives me a good excuse to buy more females for another tank. lol

The tank is 75 gallons.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Awesome! I wish i had enough tank space for them, i'm jelous ! I think 55gal would make them cramped? Your shellies are looking good back there.

Awesome pics too!

 

[Orion]

Thanks C-man!

I've heard of several people keeping the non-jumbo's in a 55, but I've always heard that you really need at least the surface area of a 75 (48x18) to really make them happy. 14 of them not fully grown yet looks mighty busy. I too think they would be a bit cramped in a 55. I've not heard good things about small schools of cyps.

So far my experence of two types of shellies in the same tank could not be better. The multi colony is growing everyday, and the brevis are...well, they are brevis. But neither one seems to be the wiser of the other. I lost one of my male multies when I moved them. I have no earthly idea what happened to him. So for now I have one male, and about 7 or 8 females. LOL, he keeps himself busy to say the least cause there is fry everywhere. On a sad note with my multies, I found out what happend to my original alpha male the other day. He had jumped out of the tank and was found crispy behind the tank. Even totaly dry, he was still huge! I really hope that one of these other males grows into such a wonderfull specimen without the suicidal tendencies.

 

[phOOey]

every time i see new pics, it just makes me want to set-up a tank just like it , well maybe one day...

do you have any rock dwellers in this tank at the mo? i can remember some mention of julies and calvus but wasnt sure if you ever got round to adding them.

 

[Orion]

Yeah I've got Julidochromis dickfeldi 'midnight' in there. I was thinking of adding calvus, and still may if I ever find any.

 

[NoDeltaH2O]

Beautiful fish you've got there Orion. I've never seen them before. This is the new setup you have in the living room, right? I seem to remember the sand bottom from the pictures from several weeks ago.

 

[Orion]

Thanks Delta. Yup, this is the new 75 gallon in the living room. I need to take an updated full tank shot.

 

[ozziegt]

Awesome pictures...I love how you have separated out a mini multi colony on the left side...what lives on the right side?

Also, what kind of camera is that? Do you use any external lighting / flash?

 

[Orion]

Right side is a pair of Neolamprologus brevis with Julies in the rocks. Adding the cyps and cats have really helped my julies feel more comfortable in the new tank and they are out much more now. That was the plan, just glad it worked out the way that it should.

The camera I use is a Sony Mavica. I forget the model number, but its a nice camera. Its out in my truck, if I run outside and remember to look I'll get it. It's my fathers, but I can get it about anytime I need it. Heh, keeps me from having to get one on my own. It looks similar to an SLR, but you can not change lenses. But it comes with a macro function, and many other doo-dads, so I really like it for the little bit of photography I do. I just use the flash that is on the camera and tank lights.

 

[ozziegt]

So do the multies pretty much stay on the left side? I guess they must if they have fry...I don't see any shells on the right side, where do the brevis live?

 

[Orion]

In the second picture from the very top you see some shells. Those are the brevis' shells. They prefered the larger conch shells, so I give them what they want.

Neither species of shellie ventures far at all from their shells. This is their 'saftey zone' if you will.

 

[Orion]

Took this one last night. Caught him in the middle of feeding with his mouth open. Just thought it was a neat picture.

 

[phOOey]

cool, they've actually got pretty small mouths. what was he eating ?

 

[Orion]

New Life Spectrum premium. I've heard so much hype over it figured I would give it a try. So far all my fish eat it like there is no tommarow.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

All my fish eat NLS, and for now i wouldn't change it for the world. I find it to be the best food out there. Everything eats it and they love it. Plus that stuff lasts forever, even one of the small cans....it will last a long time lol.

 

[Orion]

They really seemed to respond well to the food, but it hasn't justified in my mind to pay so much for it yet. We'll see.

I was really surprised to see the cyps eating so well so soon after getting them home. They aren't as skittish as I was lead to belive either. They don't like sudden movements, but we have no problems moving around the living room as we normaly do and they don't seem to care a bit.