New to cichlids

[Brookster123]

Maculipinnis

 

[stevenht]

Maculipinnis

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say those aren't too common [emoji12]

 

[Brookster123]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say those aren't too common [emoji12]

They're on wetspots list usually, not sure where your lfs orders from?

 

[stevenht]

I haven't asked them. Sometimes they do get random fish that I've never seen and only heard of. So they may surprise me. I'm going to look at their stock Saturday!

 

[Brookster123]

I haven't asked them. Sometimes they do get random fish that I've never seen and only heard of. So they may surprise me. I'm going to look at their stock Saturday!

Email them and ask for their order sheet. Good way of circumventing expensive shipping fees. They're already ordering fish. Besides you might be up on something they are not, may be doing them a solid.

 

[stevenht]

Thinking about rolling with Shellies so I don't have to worry about tank size

 

[Brookster123]

Thinking about rolling with Shellies so I don't have to worry about tank size

You could create a pretty intense scape, freakgecko had a Shellie tank with maybe a goby as a centerpiece? Cant remember... make a rock pile cascading down to open sand and shells.

 

[dalto]

Thinking about rolling with Shellies so I don't have to worry about tank size

Which ones are you looking at?

 

[stevenht]

I'm probably going to order from Dave's Rare Aquarium Fish down in San Antonio. A lot of people say he's well known and the best in Texas.

Currently he has

'Lamprologus' brevis Kitumba "orange belly"
'Lamprologus' callipterus
'Lamprologus' cf. ocellatus "blue stripe"
Lepidiolamprologus meeli - male and female
Telmatochromis temporalis "temporalis shell"

All of which are reasonably priced. At least within my budget

 

[stevenht]

I heard the Brichardi's are good as well and easy to breed, if I ever wanted to get into that one day. Also heard they're one of the most fierce dwarf cichlids and will kill anything in a tank they're breeding in.

 

[dalto]

I'm probably going to order from Dave's Rare Aquarium Fish down in San Antonio. A lot of people say he's well known and the best in Texas.

Dave is a great guy. He has been a big supporter of the hobby for many years.

 

[stevenht]

Can shell dwellers mingle amongst each other or does it need to be primarily same species?

 

[dalto]

Can shell dwellers mingle amongst each other or does it need to be primarily same species?

Same species in a tank that size.

 

[stevenht]

Now it's time to narrow down the list of which species. I really would like a bigger fish to be a centerpiece. Maybe you can steer me in the right direction there?

 

[stevenht]

If it's not possible then I'll just move on and get my fish. Really leaning towards the callipterus atm. They're really pretty fish.

 

[dalto]

Now it's time to narrow down the list of which species. I really would like a bigger fish to be a centerpiece. Maybe you can steer me in the right direction there?

What about A. calvus? That might be a good centerpiece to go along with some shell dwellers.

 

[dalto]

If it's not possible then I'll just move on and get my fish. Really leaning towards the callipterus atm. They're really pretty fish.

I don't know much about callipterus but there are definitely other tangayikan fish that can go with shell dwellers.

 

[stevenht]

What about A. calvus? That might be a good centerpiece to go along with some shell dwellers.

Those are really cool. I'm just gonna have to weigh my options. Which, if you look at Dave's list, is more than I can handle lol. That dude has everything. Making my centerpiece option that much harder. The shell-dwellers I'm limited to the list I gave earlier.

Looks like the callipterus males do get to be around 5" while the females stay around 2.5". May look for something a little smaller.

 

[stevenht]

Dalto, any experiences with Brichardi's? Everywhere I read, they say they're one of the easiest to keep. I actually wouldn't mind a pair of those vs. a pair of a bigger fish. Something about them catches my eye

 

[vice1]

This is my African Cichlid tank at the moment. It's a 240ltr Juwel RIO tank with an additional added fluval 406 canister filter. I have a mix of Cichlids from different lakes, mostly lake Malawi though... people say you can't mix them, but mine are getting on fine. I have a bristlenose pleco in there also to help keep the tank clean.