anyone keeping these??? Nanochromis parilus (Blue Congo Dwarf Cichlids)

[Magnum Man36 151]

Magma cichlid caves… a little spendy, but look great so far, small size for dwarf cichlids

 

[GaryE]

They're small looking. For Nanochromis, I would half bury them in sand or gravel they could clean out.

 

[Magnum Man36 151]

I ordered several of these… they have a bigger one ( large ) pictured with an oscar… this one is listed as small…

 

[Magnum Man36 151]

they are new, and haven’t got the size down on the new listings, now a medium, and a large

 

[Magnum Man36 151]

one of the 2 small ones placed in my tank, after a good scrub down…

 

[Magnum Man36 151]

20 minutes later the curiosity gets the best of them… I think this size is plenty big for these dwarf cichlids this is one of the bigger jewels…

 

[Magnum Man36 151]

interestingly the fish get the final decision… the blues seem to have found a spot in a piece of driftwood, that was hollowed out long ago by a pleco, the jewels and butterfly’s, are getting to know the new caves, but this 1st 2 blues ( appear to be maybe a couple ) seem content with the smaller hole in the wood… adding the new caves to the same area, gives the blues spot a little more seclusion…

 

[Magnum Man36 151]

one of the blues out scavenging this morning

 

[Magnum Man36 151]

the previous picture is the bigger of the blues… here is a couple pictures of the smaller one, taken this morning.

 

[Magnum Man36 151]

and this is the bigger one this morning

 

[GaryE]

The Rubricatochromis exsul should be open spawners, attracted to the top of that cave, but not inside it. The same is true of the open spawning thomasi. You have two fish with the same needs there.
The Nanochromis are cave spawners, but the openings there seem too large. The substrate you have ruins their fun as far as digging out their own homes goes. But I'll be (happily) surprised if they go for the new caves.

 

[Magnum Man36 151]

I do get the breeding thing, but this particular tank is much too hard to work on, to actually try to breed fish in it… so, I’m more after that elusive cichlid community tank for this particular tank, as an aggressive defending parent could destroy the tank dynamic… 1/3 of my tanks would be easier to maintain as breeding tanks, but since we can’t always control that, at some point one of my least serviceable tanks is going to end up with a breeding pair of something, requiring a full tear down to remove the breeding pair, to relocate…

 

[GaryE]

If you have both sexes - Rubricatochromis breed very freely, whether we want it or not. I don't know exsul directly, but they are starting to appear on a lot of lists, so they can't be uncooperative. And while the other two need soft water for the eggs to develop and hatch, I think you have that with your RO. If you don't, they'll still claim turf and try.

So like it or not, there's going to be breeding behaviour . Maybe no fry, and maybe the mayhem will be limited with the eggs not developing or the larvae/fry getting eaten. But fish'll be fish.

 

[Magnum Man36 151]

it’s been several weeks since these guys got here, I saw both out this afternoon, the bigger definitely with hughes of turquoise, and pinks, smaller is plainer… since I have added a great many caves, and these guys found one made by a pleco long ago ( no longer in this tank )… they are definitely the least aggressive cichlid in this tank, but since they all getting along. I’m adding a couple more of these blues, should be here next Tuesday…

just in case anyone is interested, if I was starting over, even though I like the jewels and the butterfly’s , I would have bought 7 more of these…

FYI, I got mine from Dan’s , and he still has more than 50 left in stock … these are really awesome fish…

Blue Congo Dwarf Cichlid (Nanochromis parilus)

Blue Congo Dwarf Cichlid (Nanochromis parilus) for sale from Dans Fish at $19.99 each. Shipped Next Day Air.

dansfish.com

 

[gwand36 152]

What is the adult size of Nanochromis parilus?