Nanochromis teugelsi

[anewbie1]

W

Neolebias ansorgii, jellybeans, hulstaertis and especially jae are poor 'dithers' for teugelsi, as they share the same niche. Jellybeans are the least substrate oriented of the choices, but the barbs and Distochodids like the bottom of the tank as much as Cichids do.


I bred up a pile of black neons that are now adults working safely in the dither trade. I don't like mixing fish from different regions, let alone continents, but even having Phenacos or moons with gabonicus is regionally wrong. Where we caught gabonicus, there were no shoalers and the water was only a foot deep.

black neons are too large - what about ruby tetra or perhaps something else ? I think i will order a few n. ansorgii as they are a fish i want and very small even if they end up lower in the water column. I'm not set on jelly beans; though the ones i have avoid the bottom and in general the larger cichild. The others I mentioned are not available so not relevant.


Anyway i'm open to a suggestion - but i think none of them are going to want a lot of current.

 

[anewbie1]

Anyway - i did a bit more today - the other day i forgot to mention i replace the return strainer on the canister filter with a sponge - some might call this a pre-filter - i call it a baby guard:

I decided to shorten the second piece of the spray bar - and correctly measured it. I found this in one of my drawers:

It is great for toes and fingers but only did a so so job on the spray bar. I did not account for the inch taken up by the hose assembly so i will need to remove another inch tomorrow - i think i'll try my tube cutter and see if it works better.

This is a new one for me - the handle that came with the lid was shattered though the lids itself was fine. Luckily i had

a pile of these that came with my 500 and 600.

Kind of prefer the subtle black aqueon but whatever. I found a light in my closet - my oldest plant 3. around 6 or 7 years old. So this is where things are:

The flow is pretty decent but mostly surface so not sure if that is an issue or not - most small tetra aren't going to love it. I did shoot the spray bar into the glass and i could enlarge the holes if i need to. Not really happy with the return (blue sponge) position releative to the sponge filter so maybe i'll remove the 2nd sponge filter after the aquarium cycles or move it in front along the side.

The plants came today so i'll plant those tomorrow when i tweak the spray bar and then it will sit idle till mid next week when i add a few fishes.

 

[GaryE29 144]

Geographically off, but normani lampeyes work as an African fish from the general region. They donpt range that far south, and Congopanchax would be better. But they're delicate, expensive fish that need tlc. Small Aphyoplatys or Fenerbahce would be excellent.


I use black neons because they were easy to breed in numbers I could use. They're still small.

 

[anewbie1]

I don't think any of the killis will do well with much surface current - do you ?

 

[anewbie1]

So Mrs google suggested the following:
ember tetra - surprise they like currents but other wise they would be fine - kind of prefer morse code myself.
Green neon tetra - these prefer lower levels of the water - even fi they like current probably not a good choice.
humming bird tetra - i ahve a group of these - they are ok and stay near the top.
harlequin rasbora ... not sure about these.
---
I narrowed my search some more and found these:
junior tetra (h. robustulus) don't know a lot about them but seem interesting enough to try
Imperial Lapis Tetra (probably not a great choice)
Blueberry Tetra (well google really goofed on this one - these are giant monsters - even bigger than black neon); very pretty fish i have one. Hum. maybe i'll get some more. just so darn large.

 

[GaryE29 144]

I actually found normani in my net in riverside moving water. So they aren't current runners, but are okay with it. The water wasn't agitated but had more current than any tank, without turbulence.

Imperial lapis (H melanostichos) are the same size as black neons (H herbertaxelrodi), but they hang where the flow is strongest here in their SA tank. I like them a lot. I found robustulus kind of dull.

 

[anewbie1]

how do you feel aobut chili rasboras - again from wrong part of the world... but. ...

 

[GaryE29 144]

Nice fish. I used to breed the related Bororas maculatus, and I enjoyed them.

I see form and function issues. They're the size you like, but if a dwarf cichlid does does land a hit, or chase, would they get away.... I want my dither fish unhurt. I like to 'hire' things like black neons, melanostichos, pencils as they are big enough to get the eye of the pair, but fast and unbothered by the odd run taken at them.

I've never liked having tiny things in there, like amandae/embers or such. I love those tiny fish, but they don't go in my dwarf Cichlid tanks.

What might work in Asian fish are small Danios - choprae maybe. I rarely have kept Asian fish, for no solid reason, so I'm guessing maybe there.

 

[anewbie1]

Nice fish. I used to breed the related Bororas maculatus, and I enjoyed them.

I see form and function issues. They're the size you like, but if a dwarf cichlid does does land a hit, or chase, would they get away.... I want my dither fish unhurt. I like to 'hire' things like black neons, melanostichos, pencils as they are big enough to get the eye of the pair, but fast and unbothered by the odd run taken at them.

I've never liked having tiny things in there, like amandae/embers or such. I love those tiny fish, but they don't go in my dwarf Cichlid tanks.

What might work in Asian fish are small Danios - choprae maybe. I rarely have kept Asian fish, for no solid reason, so I'm guessing maybe there.

I've not kept cichli before so i can't comment on how delicate they are or how low they go - i've kept embers with breeding apisto and never had a problem - they seem pretty robust and mostly just stay out of the way. The n. teugelsi are a bit larger and perhaps faster but also seem to stay lower.

My biggest problem with embers is i really like the very similar morse code tetra a lot so usually if i buy one i go for the other since they have very similar area, size and behavior.

Of course they are not available very often or from very many locations. In my search it turns out tucano tetra are actually a good option liking a lot of current - but they are horrible expensive and of course not available very often. I really need to learn to breed these two wonderful tetras before the ones i have age out.

 

[anewbie1]

Any thoughts on Bathyaethiops flammeus ? They are available.

 

[GaryE29 144]

Any thoughts on Bathyaethiops flammeus ? They are available.

You are a cruel individual, telling me that. Here I am, in a lovely backwater where airlines have permanently cleared out all cargo capacity for live animals because of fuel costs, and left me unable to get teugelsi, let alone flammeus!

B. flammeus should be a great fish. It should be a true shoaler (I have kept B greeni and breuseghami), in a way every Characin keeper dreams of. But it should also be larger than you say you like. My greeni run with the Congo Tetras in my Chromidotilapia tank. They're tall tetras, and are 4 to 5 cm in total length.

In a large tank with 10 or 12, they would be a serious midwater to lower 'wow' factor.

I never saw a moment of aggression from my Bathyaethiops to my Parananochromis, but while they were in there, I didn't get much breeding activity. Once they were moved, things caught fire underwater. That may have been random because the moon tetras never seemed to care about the Cichlids. But it made me wonder.

 

[anewbie1]

So maybe 6 or 7 B. flammeus; 8 or 9 of the smaller Neolebias ansorgii and 10 jelly beans for the very top.

 

[GaryE29 144]

I'd expect the large flammeus to be hard on jellybeans - a very delicate fish that isn't established in the hobby as in spite of their undeniable different beauty, most people find them hard to keep alive. I'd either or it - flammeus or Neolebias/jellies. But my ansorgii rarely left the bottom, and might have some hunting skills in a neon tetra, stalk and ambush fry style.

 

[anewbie1]

I'd expect the large flammeus to be hard on jellybeans - a very delicate fish that isn't established in the hobby as in spite of their undeniable different beauty, most people find them hard to keep alive. I'd either or it - flammeus or Neolebias/jellies. But my ansorgii rarely left the bottom, and might have some hunting skills in a neon tetra, stalk and ambush fry style.

Can you elaborate on 'hard' on jellies - i would presume they would be in different part of the water columns and for the most part not interact.

I definitely want to get the Neolebias but they will likely eat the frys - maybe i'll get 6 and put them in the 10 instead of the 29 - so then the question is can i mix 8 flammeus with 14 jellies. Do you really think it will be an issue with the two colliding ?

Won'tt he flammeus be just as likely to eat the frys but harder to deal with since they are larger ?

 

[anewbie1]

Ok a few pictures:

Found my trusty tube cutter. At first it wouldn't make it through the thicker plastic of the spray bar; but a few twirls and it cut it like butter. Not sure if it works as well on fingers and toes but maybe one day i will get the test such.


List of plants i received yesterday - of course it is not readable - maybe i'll retake and update this post; ok here is an updated picture.

Initial planting - that is a narrow leaf java fern flowing - they cut the little brown things pretty short so i'll have to think about how i want to sink it.

The numbers are aquariumplantfactory numbers (i use them because i HATE rockwool and they have an option to get the plants without the stuff - lets see if i remember what everrything is:
Left to right:
140 -> h. salicifolia purple - never had this so not sure how it will gorw.
632 is E. vietnam - this is a new plant for me but is native to blackwater.
267 E reni - those are emersed leaves - it will stay pretty small but add a touch of red.
054 - crypt nurii. Not sure if this is true crypt nurii or one of the muck in the trade - the true version is a blackwater plant and should do well.
114 is Helanthium Quadricostatus - if this takes off it will carpet the bottom in a couple of months. Deceptive little bit in there given how fast it can grow esp in blackwater.
76 is e. rose - not sure how large this one gets - the package had 4 of them with decent roots for once.
983 is crypt Willisii another blackwater crypt but not sure how well it will grow - last one i tried struggled.
556 is the narrow leaf java fern - junk. might rip it out.
Not numbered but the big sword plant in the back - is you guess it - BIG bear (sometime known as prinz kleiner bear) it will fill up abut 1/2 to 2/3 of the aquarium after a couple of years if it gets enough light/nutrients.
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I'll probably throw in a little nana val yaba one of these days.

I need to reroute the air to the sponge filters - long story and cut the plastic strip in the back. When the tank is safely cycled i will remove the 2nd sponge filter on the left next to return leaving just the one sponge filter on the right.

I was going to take pictures of each plant but decided it would bore you so i only took one; guess which one!

Not very visible but i also tossed in a some of these:

and for those who care the ec was 39 as a baseline - it will of course rise as the leaves decay but then drop. I expect some algae and other usual new tank syndrome over the next few weeks.