dimidiochromis compressiceps

[DeFeKt]

hi everyone

Found some dimi compressiceps pretty cheap, which lead to alot of reading and general research on this fish.
It also lead to me purchasing 10 of them 1 mnth old at around an inch long.
What are peoples experiences with this fish?
They were and will be housed with mbuna, particularly yellow labs, maingano and acei "msuli" until they are ready to breed, then they will be moved their own tank.
any thoughts or experiences I need to be aware of, besides what common research would uncover?

Thanks,

Matthew

 

[TCTFish]

Hope you have a gigantic tank. These fish get big (up to 12 inches), are predatory, and need lots of room to swim in.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/d_compressiceps.php

 

[DeFeKt]

100 gal for the time being.

 

[TCTFish]

Well...you know what will happen once those fish become adults. What you can do now is let them grow and watch who becomes male. These are fierce fish when it comes to protecting fry...just like any other cichlid. For breeding attempts I would suggest with a 100 gallon tank to have a single male with a few females. No other fish should reside with them. As for a community member, there should be only one mature adult. And if any of your fish start missing eyes...you know which fish did it.

If you can do this and have a source to sell the babies to...go for it. They are interesting fish and I don't mean to send any doubts about them your way....just being realistic about their size and behavior. They are called Malawi Eye Biters for a reason...LOL. Ah...but they are one of the most beautiful fish in the lake

 

[rippin17]

I recently have gotten rid of my compressiceps because of the eye-biting. They are cool fish and i loved them but they were just too agressive, and they attacked the eyes of 4 of my fish. They are only 1 and 2 inches long and they went after the biggets fish in my tank. They were not messing around.

The yellow lab was the first victim of my "eye-biter". I blamed it on my overcrowded tank tho. So anyway good luck with this fish! They are gorgeous!

 

[DeFeKt]

oh ok, the guy i bought them off was breeding them in an 8.5x2x2 tank with colonies of labs, maingano, demasoni, acei"msuli, various other cichlids and has never seen them display the eye biting. but yes when they start to colour up the new home will be a 100gallon by themselves in the fish shed.
Thanks for the input to indeed they are a very cool looking fish, i'm going to try get some albinos off a mate of mine (touch wood)who is one of the only breeder in the state so far and set them both up seperatly for breeding purposes. My fish collection is adding up quite nicely but alas on 53 so far.

here is the father of my babies and to give credit where it is due...is owned and the photo taken by a guy named dennis in Warnbro W.A

cheers everyone..
Matt.