Couple of weeks in and the soulfish is proving to be right again. I am down to 3 brichardi now, the others were expelled to the far corners of the tank and were stressing. So far I don't have a definite pair but two seem to be busy in the rockwork whilst the third "stands guard" in the open watching the multies.
I have ditched the lamp. ocellatus as the lfs had nothing but males, they also had their blues and gold stock all confused so I gave them all back. I'm going to try another source for them and give them their own tank - I tell you I am in love with ocellatus, fantastic fish!
The male multi still defends his area very well, the brichardi have tried to muscle in but he won't have it. Spunky little fish.
So, all this I have read about brichardi communities must start out from a dominant parental pair, then the siblings will watch out for each other.
I've also decided against adding the syno. petricola as I've read elsewhere that brichardi will tear it to pieces. I did try adding a calvus for an hour or so, figuring that they are cool cats who can take a spot of bother but no way, two or three brichardi would go at it until it was in a corner - and the male multi wouldn't let it near his patch either.
Here's a useful tip I learned whilst trying to extract the calvus. Once he had been moved from one tank with the net, he had wised up and shot away to the caves the moment the net was dipped into the water. Solution - wait until he falls asleep on the substrate in the dark, then creep in under a low light and lift the little fella out - honestly, he didn't wake up until he was back in the water of his old tank! no thrashing at all - he must have thought the brichardi was just a nasty dream! he he
