Stocking Ideas

[Orion]

I'm going to add some more fish to the mix once I get my 75 up and going. Right now I have Neolamprologus breivs and Julidochromis dickfeldi 'midnight' that's going to be calling this new tank home.

I know that I am finaly going to get to add some Cypichromis leptosoma. Probably 'Utinta', mabey 'Tricolor'. But I'm a bit torn as for the rest. I've always wanted calvus, but in a tank this size, I feel that I should turn my attentions to some of the other's that I wouldn't get to keep otherwise.

I would love to get some of the gobies. Eretmodus cynostictus and Tanganicodus irsacae are at the top of my list of the gobies. My biggest concern with these however would be the diet, and the location of where these come from in the lake. Gobies come from the surge part of the lake, and I don't know how well they would do in a normal setup tank.

My other big choice would be the sand dwellers. I've came across these a few times while browsing stock lists online and they have always appealed to me. Shells on one end, and rocks on the other, I see no reason why it could not work. Altho mine being only a 4 foot tank these may be better off left to the longer tanks.

Anybody else have any good sugestions?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Don't worry i've seen this thread, just taking me a while to come up with some ideas.

The gobies i think i'd setup another tank for so you can put a lot of current in there.

The Cyprichromis will be cool, add some life up top.

 

[Orion]

lol, take your time C-man. Its not like I'm going to run out today and get something. (But wouldnt that be cool?)

I agree on the gobies, I just think they would be great to have. I've noticed that my julies do not like much current at all. When I had part of my spray bar pointing to the rock pile, I didn't see much of them (This was in the old tank, and it was like that for a few days.). They stayed well in the rocks. Mabey this was just a response to a change in their enviornment and didn't want to get swept away by the fast current. They may have very well gotten used to it after a little while. Worth fileing in the back of my mind for later useage.

 

[Orion]

Here is what I am thinking so far.

-12-16 cyps (no idea of which type. Any idea's?)
- Alto cavlus

I would love to go for the white calvus, but heres the thing. I have the 'midnight' julies in this tank. Right now I just used regular play sand. Its very light in color. This is not going to show off the julies color as well as a dark sand. However I sure don't have the money right now to afford 100 lbs of black sand. So I don't know if it would be worth me saving up and changing over later (I HATE changing the sand in an established tank), or just suck it up and stick with what I have. So far all the julies still appear just as dark as when they were over a dark bottom, so mabey they are not affected as much as some of the others. I figure the color of the bottom has little to no effect on the coloring of the cyps. Of course as the julies stay with their rocks, I could just get some darker rocks.

At least I have a general idea of what I want to do.

I've always wanted the calvus, and I figure this way, everyone has their own niche in the tank with minimal over lapping of tertiories . Julies=rocks, brevis=shells, calvus=rocks,shells,open, and cyps=top. Sounds good in theroy anyway.

I am really looking hard at an adult trio of white calvus for only $60. Thats one heck of a deal IMO, just have to convince the wife of that. I'm just a little nervous about WC's. Never kept one, but heard many things on both sides of the fence about them. I guess the biggest deciding factor is how well an adult calvus would fair with my juvinile Julies.

I've also looked at some of the less common lamprologines, but I really don't want a simmilar sized fish going for the same teritories as my julies. However some of the larger 'shellies' like the caudopuc's could work on the opposite side of the tank as the brevis with the julies in the middle.

Off subject a bit, I ran across an online vendor last night who was selling the dickfeldi 'midnights' for $20 per fish! I am so glad that I was able to get these guys when I did. Mine averaged $8 each.

 

[phOOey]

'blue flash' are probably the most popular variety of cyps there are, i think they look great.

how big is this trio of calvus, because if there a decent size i'd say $60 for the 3 would be a steal, as these things grow so slowly. What are your worries about them with the julies, being eaten? fights over territory?

also have you ever visited www.shelldwellers.com ? there are some very knowlegable (sp?) people on there that could help you with stocking and things.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Sounding good to me.

I'd be kinda worried about adult Calvus and juvi Julies. How big are the Julies now? I guess its just a matter of mouth size on the calvus. You've probably already seen it but here is a small article on Calvus http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/a_calvus.php .

Is that Trio wild? It is a deal by far if they are wild Still quite a good price IMO.

-12-16 cyps (no idea of which type. Any idea's?)

I'd look at what you can get first lol, hard to get ahold of. At least around my neck of the woods, not sure about a little further north.

75gals is a good size tank, i think if you provide enough shells and rocks you shouldn't have much trouble.

Personally i never had any trouble keeping my Calvus juvis. Waterchanges stressed them abit but they were fine, the only thing that went wrong was a heater failure and it was beyond me and i couldn't do anything about it...causing their death. But other than that no problems.

 

[Orion]

For the cyps I was thinking along the lines of the Utinta. Nothing is avalable localy, so why not get something I want? I will gladly pay the price for a fish I want than to settle for something less. Kinda how I came about the 75 gallon instead of a 55.

My biggest concern is for the julies being eaten by the calvus. Yeah I can always wait till they are bigger, thats no big deal. And I don't know for sure that the trio for $60 is adult wild caught for this particular sale, but I know that in the past that is roughly what he has charged for them.

The biggest julie would be 2in at most. The smallest around an inch.

I have two brevis in the tank right now. Going to add a second female tonight as see how it goes. The male had bread with this particular female in the past, but no promises as how its going to go with all three of them. At most I have seen one pair of brevis use 2 shells. They both stay in one 95% of the time. I'll toss in a few conch shells (what mine prefer), one for each adult, and then a few smaller ones.

C-man, I've read that article so many times I could almost recite it from memory.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Heh, good article.

You should check with http://www.dykemyster.com (Erik). A little ways down from me and a sponsor of CAAS. Got TOP notch fish and his price list says F0 Adult "Chakita White" Alto Calvus pairs - $55. 4 Avalible. Also got a few other Tangs, he is mostly a hap/malawi guy but deals with tangs too. Heard his shipping is unbeatable through fedex.

Ok so i had to throw in a plug LOL....but i'm going to him to stock up my tanks with haps and peacocks. Was looking over the list and saw the calvus and had to share.

 

[Orion]

I would almost base my purchase by those who DONT use Fedex. ugh, bad time when I got my julies. Lucky only two died. And from the sounds of my LFS, its my local office thats a big part of the problem.

But anyway....

Thats good to know c-man. Thanks. I figure the calvus are going to be the last part of my tank to give the julies and other good time to gain some size on the calvus.

I added the other female brevis tonight. So far, not to bad. The male has chased her bit, but nothing as serious as what happened the last time these two met. I never saw her swim again in the 10 gallon. When she was first badly damaged by the male, pretty much all of her caudel fin was gone. Its kinda grew back now, but seems to be just a tad deformed. Better than nothing.

I got to messing around with the other tanks today and didn't get to do any rearanging of the rocks. I have to add some more shells too. I'll jump in there and grab a quick pic and try to post it tonight.

 

[Orion]

here we go.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Nice, more rocks than plants always look better in my eyes

Yeah any shipping can be a hassle, luckly Erik's neighbor is a Fedex guy haha.

 

[Orion]

I'm not a big fan of this setup. With so much space I have no idea what to do with it all. lol

Need bigger rocks.

If you'll notice, a few plants floating in the corner that I just haven't got around to planting yet.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Yeah i have tanks like that. The rock work you would like to buildup, but still keep a natural feel to it. Its hard.

I like the smooth rounder rocks, where did you get these? You probably stated it already in a post a while ago but i forgot. Local landscaping place?

 

[Orion]

Yep. Went back to the landscape place over the weekend and struck out, and they kinda ticked me off at the same time.

Asked about fewer rocks than a whole palette of them and she told me that her brother deals with the rocks and she only knows whole sale prices. She couldn't price just a few of them. Funny thing when I picked up those the first time, a different lady was the one who sold them to me. If she is now a brother then some strange things are happening. lol

I like those larger rocks a lot. One of the things I like so much is the texture of them. Not smooth, but not very rough either. Reminds me of smooth quarts if that makes since. I would say Im going to go on a rock hunt in the next little bit in local creeks looking for larger smoother rocks.

I've found some nice looking rock behind where I work wher I've colected most of my slate. Still not sure what it is. At first I thought it might have been shale because of all the amounts of slate around, but its too hard for shale. But it seems to have layers like slate does. The sides look similar to that of a sand stone, but the rock is quite hard and difficult to break. It also looks like it may have some silica or quarts in it as well. Nice looking rock, just don't know what it is. lol

 

[FroggyFox]

I think comps are cuter than calvus I'd be worried about tiny fish with any bigger calvus/comps...my one comp has done a good job of keeping the brichardi population down to a manageable level in my 29...and from what I've been reading the two are pretty similar in temprament/activity/diet etc

I feel your pain on decorating a big tank...I have the hardest time with anything taller than a 10G

 

[Orion]

Thats always a possibility with a fish that has a mouth that big. I've always wanted some, and I sure have the room now for them, just pondering different ideas. Ideally I would rather have a sand-dweller. The Xeno's are sweet.

 

[Orion]

Thats odd, I could have swore I posted another one in here about the cyps....

Anyway, I've spoke to a guy in Ohio, and he has 3in leptosoma 'Utinta 2' for $7 each. Doesnt sound like a bad deal overall. I've never heard of the Utinta 2, has anyone here?

No shipping troubles for me. I'm going to pick these guys up if I get them. He lives in the same town as some family up there, so it all works out well.

edit: What is the best ratio of sexes? 1m:2 or 3f?

 

[Orion]

We are cooking with crisco now.

If it goes as planed, this weekend I will for sure be picking up a dozen of the cyps from the guy in OH. Tring to also find some calvus 'congo', but that is proving a little more difficult in the area that Im going too. No worries, I'll get them soon enough.

And you can be sure I'll have pics of my cyps up just as soon as I get them in.

Of course in my search for these fish, my wife tells me that she really likes the looks of the tropheus and we should get some of them. " Those can go in the 220 you are going to buy me in a few years dear. "

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Woo Hoo!

Sounds great! Can't wait to see them. Tropheus are cool, especially a colony of them.

 

[phOOey]

can't wait to see pics

yeah your wife has good taste, i think a big colony of tropheus in her future 220g tank would look great lol