Calvus are here!! *updated pics*

[TankGirl]

Finally, after quite a wait, I have my Altolamprologus calvus. I ordered them from Eddie at Bluegrasscichlids.com, and I am very pleased. I got 4 to hopefully get a pair or a trio for my 37gal office tank, but at 1" I can expect to wait 2 years for these wee things to reach spawning size. They are likely at least 9 months old now, and this is the reason many people don't want to grow out calvus, since waiting for them to grow is like "watching paint dry," as they say. I will be patient!

I also received 5 juvie Neolamprologus pulcher, a member of the Brichardi complex, commonly called "Daffodil" but very similar to what many know as the brichardi cichlid. These are in my 44gal office tank, formerly home to my Aulonocara of death (stuartgranti peacock) and L. caeruleus, which I reluctantly sold off since the peacock killed the two female peacocks that were in there with him. I had enough of him and decided to build a colony of pulchers. No pics yet of these since they are still very much in hiding. They are about 1.5" but should grow pretty rapidly.

Here is a blurry pic of the calvus - auto focus does not always choose the fish to focus on, and there is no manual setting.

 

[lmw80]

very nice! congrats!

 

[Fluff]

Very nice TankGirl! I love calvus. My stint with them wasn't so successful, but I know yours will be. I intend to try again.... someday.

 

[mentallylost]

You have 2 of my favorite African Cichlid species. I seem to be watching the paint dry with my calvus too. And my Daffodils, the paint has long dried. They will not stop breeding. I have about 100 fry from 3 seperate broods. It has been about every 3 to 4 weeks with them.
Anyway, congrats!

 

[TankGirl]

I am just one step closer to having tanks like yours, ML!

I know calvis can sometimes be a bit tricky, especially when it comes to feeding, but so far they are eating mosquito larvae, though the rainbows in the tank as dithers do get a good portion of them. I wish the tank was big enough to keep cyprichromis as dithers but it just would not work.

Fluff, what problems did you have with calvus? I think I have read myself to death on these fish but I like to hear about the experiences of others.

And thanks again to Lori who sold me her UV sterilizer that finally got the tank in shape for my calvus!

 

[An t-iasg]

Congrats, TankGirl! The calvus are very pretty!

 

[TankGirl]

Thanks Deb - I just looked over and saw one of the calvus attached to the side of another, swimming around, until it finally let the fish go, like it was holding it in its mouth. 1" fish, mind you!

The fish that was apparently bitten on the side does not appear injured, though I know they have very sharp, rigid scales on their sides as a defense, so maybe I should be checking the lips of the attacker. The fun starts already 8O

You just gotta love them cichlids.....

 

[Billsgate]

Hope they'll grow to like eachother!!!!

Congrats on the new additions, I remember you talking about getting these fish for a loooong time now.
And they do look great

 

[Meredith]

Congrats! Are those the kind that live in shells?

 

[TankGirl]

These are not really shelldwellers, but often they do spawn in larger shells like welk or conch. They like to squeeze into tight crevices for spawning, so the female can block the entrance with her body, and the male is too large to fit in to eat the egss. The males will get about 5", the females about 3.5" or so, eventually. Ad Konings indicates about a three-year wait in the wild for maturity!

 

[Fluff]

My bad luck was my own stupidity. They were doing great in a bare qt but when I moved them to a growout tank, I never gave it a thought that the ph might be hugely different and they went into shock and died. At least that is the only thing I could figure went wrong. But, they were doing awesome while I had them and getting frisky with each other. I had black calvus and some goldhead comps with them.

 

[TankGirl]

As day to comes to a close, the calvus are certainly getting friskier and friskier. Now when I come over to the tank they swim over to me, already learning to expect to be fed! The one that is getting picked on now has no tail at all so that might be too much friskiness for him - if I can do so without tearing the tank to pieces I am considering giving him his own digs in a 5gal until he can get himself together. I acclimated them very slowly yesterday and they seem to have made the transition well so far, but I was very nervous about it.

The pulchers are still totally in hiding, so the tank looks completely bare, as below (I re-scaped the tank after removing the Malawis but they don't seem to appreciate my hours of stacking and restacking.... ) I expected the calvus to be the ones hiding, not the pulchers! They are absolutely gorgeous, with fluorescent white/blue tips on their long, flowing fins, and they have blue eyes. I know I need a background on this tank

 

[mentallylost]

Beautiful aquascaping! Where in the tank have the Daffodils retreated to? I wouldn't be too concerned with the other calvus's lips being torn up. Mine do it to eachother all the time. I guess that you would expect them to learn after awhile. Mine haven't learned yet. It's kind of like deja vu. My calvus did the same things that yours are doing now. To include the tail loss even. My mistake though was in thinking that the tank had enough hiding places for them to hide in. I was wrong. That calvus didn't make it. I wish that I would have just put him in a seperate tank.

 

[Toirtis]

Very nice, congrats!...I have some black calvus and some orange compressceps, and I think that they are far and gone the most attractive genus of the African cichlids.

 

[TankGirl]

I think you are right, and I am going to see if I can sneak up on him in the dark and net him out. He is always in the same place but now his color is not like the others, though he was eating. The lack of tail finnage makes it harder for him to maneuver, though.

The pulcher are behind the rocks, mainly on the far left. There is a smooth river stone between to pieces of basalt and there are good sized cracks between the three rocks, plus behind them, so they are tucked away. All of the rocks in this tank are stacked to create caves everywhere, and the fish are not 2", so they are hard to see.

 

[TankGirl]

Sorry Toirtis - simulpost!

I agree with you about the calvus and compressiceps - they look so tough when they mature, and they have always fascinated me. I am in a Lake Tang phase these days, and hope to be able to set up a large community in the near future.

 

[krap101]

from the 2 lake tang fish ive looked at (brichardi and brevis) both stay at the bottom. which tang fish that at the top? just wondering

 

[TankGirl]

Cyprichromis or paracyps are generally favored as open water shoaling types, but you need a good-sized tank for them as they need room and they prefer a group of at least 6. Also, they don't ship particularly well, or so I hear. They are quite lovely and are on my short list.

 

[dogspot]

Cyps definitely are the best! Eventually I will have a bigger tank with a school of cyps... If not this lifetime, then the next.

 

[TankGirl]

Three fronts in a 55 - you definitely need that 120

What kind of Juli transcriptus do you have?