New 16Gal. Bowed Front..

[bgraber]

Yet Another update! Turned in my 5 shell dweller and juli and got 6 Pseudotropheus Demasoni What do you ugys think of these little critters? We're in love! Seems to be one a little bigger that is a bit aggressive.. Did I mention that I love mt LFS

 

[Xxzsdrklakdfj]

6 P. demasoni in a 16gal. tank is IMO gonna lead to some problems once mature size is reached and that breeding behavior picks up. Although i have never kept them myself a guy i know bought a small group such as you for a 29gal. to get a nice little breeding colony out of and they slowly picked eachother off untill he just gave up on them, took them back to the store and tried something else. But don't worry cause there is a VERY VERY simple solution to this problem. Buy a bigger tank!!!! and i don't mean to replace the other one but keep both up and running and find something for the 16 too, lol. Or do like i do every new tank i've gotten and tell yourself you're gonna upgrade and replace something so you can by that new tank guilt free. and then eventually in the next few weeks after something will happen and you have to "temporarily" set the old tank up but for some reason it just never gets taken down, lol. but that's just how i do things. peace.....

-"letters"
BTW
how big are the fish at the moment?

 

[joshua]

shell dwellers are seldom the most colourful of fish but if you havent got the water params to suit africans, u may wanna get dwarf cichlids

 

[bgraber]

Well all 6 fish died over a 3 week span.. No ammonia, no nitrite. Water changes. I dont know what happened.. I think I'm gonna go back to the shell dwellers.. Lamprologus Ocellatus Golds? ANyone know of these?

 

[joshua]

LINK

im gonna get 2 brevis tomorrow

 

[bgraber]

Lovely link.. I'm just wondering with the shell dwellers, how much "floor space" will I need per fish? I do have some rock work and plan up keeping it all mostly to the back and up.. I have about 7 shells and can get more..

 

[joshua]

u may wanna get around let's say, 2 shells per shellie and for brevis u may need to get larger ones as pairs sometime share shells

 

[thecichlidaddict]

In a 16 gallon tank you have very limited space for cichlids.

The reason the demasoni died is because they are one of the most aggressive cichlids you can get - despite their small size they should be in at least a 55 gallon aquarium.

A Pair of brevis will work great. Provide several shells of various shapes so that they can choose their own.

If you want more then two fish you should look at Multifasciatus. These little guys are colony breeders, and you can easily get four or five in that tank. If you go with these then you will want as many shells as you can get your hands on.

I would not recommend putting any tankmates in with them, that tank just doesn't allow for it.

 

[bgraber]

Welp I went and bought 4 Lamprologus Ocellatus Golds.. Hopefully got a couple females.. I have 8 shells and rockwork.. Coral sand bottom... Do you think this will work out? By the way, I never really saw much agression between the demasoni except a little chasing when one would go near the other.. I'm sure this is stressful but should that lead to death? i was thinking like nipped fins and other wounds would be lethal not some territorial agression.. What do you think of the ocellatus golds? 4 of em..

 

[thecichlidaddict]

It should work fine


check this out:
cichlid-forum Ocellatus

 

[bgraber]

Whelp already lost 1 to agression(im assuming) last night.. He was floating looking kinda tore up. I think this tank is just cursed.. Should I have piled up all the shells and let them pick out their own? What I did was bury a few of them like they do on their own and right away there were a few battles in the shells. They were pretty small so I couldn't imagine them picking up the shells and burying them on their own.. Should I redo the rockwork and everything and pile up the shells or what do you guys recommend? I'm gonna check out that ocellatus forum when I get home.. Thank you..

 

[thecichlidaddict]

More shells couldn't hurt, let them have a choice. Don't bury any of them, they'll do that themselves - you will be amazed at the amount of sand these little suckers can move!

In a tank that small you will find that multiple males will probably not work. It is possible that the dead one was an inferior male. Ideally you would want to aim for one male with two or three females in that tank. Pay close attention to the tank for a while, watch it for more then a minute at a time - you will be able to point out any outcast fish that are not welcome and remove it before harm comes to it.

It is possible, that you got two, three, or if you really carry around bad luck, all four males, in which case your setup will not work. If you are really lucky then the one that died was one of two males, and the remaining are a nice breeding group of three

 

[bgraber]

Ok well I came to find out that the 1 dead fish was one of the demasoni! So i still have 4! The guy at the LFS said they are probably all males because the breeders usually keep the females.. So. How would you recommend I get a female or two? I've thought about ordering online but am afraid of shipping costs and mortality. I live in Ohio. And i now have an idea on how much sand they can move because looking at the shells today, a few were completely full of sand and most had a least some in them! So what I did was place a couple of the larger shells out from the middle and place 4 in a small group in the middle of the tank.. Also re-worked the rocks.. One of the little buggers nipped me while doing so! Didn't hurt but surely took me by surprise! No fins are ripped as of yet so i don't think anyone is getting overly aggressive.

 

[joshua]

its pretty easy to sex ocellatus just by their sheer difference in size between the sexes unless they're juvies of course. you have quite a gd chance with 4 unless the shopowner or supplier purposely sorted them

 

[thecichlidaddict]

If nobody in your area is selling females, then the best thing to do is to buy them as young juviniles, at an age when they are all a similar size and even breeders can not tell males from females. Purchase half a dozen of them, let them mature and sort things out on their own, and then remove any outcast males. I've never heard of a store simply not selling females.

Once you do establish a little colony, stop messing with the tank and just let them do their thing