This is a speices of Central American cichlid that I very rarely see get posted about on monsterfish keepers and even other forums.
I acquired a group of 8 ranging from around 2.75 - 4 inches around 3 days ago and I have fallen in love with them. I was told by the previous owner that they were very shy due to them being kept in a top shelf tank in a fish room but I am yet to see them be shy, yes at times they are somewhat 'jumpy' (what fish isn't?) but they have been very out going and even eating on the first day I had them in the tank. As I have read on many posts online these fish are far from push overs and are currently fitting in well with my growout group of Amphilophus Labiatus which currently range from 4 - 5 inches with one larger being around 6.5inches. I am currently using 5 Melanotaenia Trifasciata as dither fish as I already had these (if I had Astyanax Aeneus I would substitute these for the M. Trifasciata to make it more biotope specific.
Currently I have them in a 'Lake Nicaraguan inspired biotope'. The tank is a 180G 6x2x2 ft with around a 40-50G sump.
The current stock is:
5 Amphilophus Labiatus - Ranging from 4 - 6.5 inches
8 Neetroplus Nematopus - Ranging from 2.75 - 4 inches
5 Melanotaenia Trifasciata
I have included some photos / videos of the fish and tank (Please excuse the back quality/glare or any algae on the glass, and the floating particles in the videos it was just after feeding time). It is hard to get a scale of the tank due to the fact that the rocks are very large (some over 13inches).
Please note the Neetroplus Nematopus came to me with their fins as they are in the pictures/ videos, pretty shredded up, and they are beginning to heal. Also the smaller A. Labiatus got a bit of a whopping by the Largest A. Labiatus establishing it's dominace as the tank boss after I changed around the aquascape.
I perform around 30-40% water changes every second day on this tank.
My final goal for this tank is to either keep a pair of A. Labiatus or a solo male, and a group of the Neetroplus Nematopus and to tweak the aquascape as the fish grow / time goes on.
I would love for others to post photos/ their experiences with N. Nematopus as I genuinely believe it is an overlooked/ underrated species in the hobby especially as they are fully of personality and are comical to watch swim in and out of rock structures as well as graze on the rock work. I plan to also keep this thread updated in the future!
I acquired a group of 8 ranging from around 2.75 - 4 inches around 3 days ago and I have fallen in love with them. I was told by the previous owner that they were very shy due to them being kept in a top shelf tank in a fish room but I am yet to see them be shy, yes at times they are somewhat 'jumpy' (what fish isn't?) but they have been very out going and even eating on the first day I had them in the tank. As I have read on many posts online these fish are far from push overs and are currently fitting in well with my growout group of Amphilophus Labiatus which currently range from 4 - 5 inches with one larger being around 6.5inches. I am currently using 5 Melanotaenia Trifasciata as dither fish as I already had these (if I had Astyanax Aeneus I would substitute these for the M. Trifasciata to make it more biotope specific.
Currently I have them in a 'Lake Nicaraguan inspired biotope'. The tank is a 180G 6x2x2 ft with around a 40-50G sump.
The current stock is:
5 Amphilophus Labiatus - Ranging from 4 - 6.5 inches
8 Neetroplus Nematopus - Ranging from 2.75 - 4 inches
5 Melanotaenia Trifasciata
I have included some photos / videos of the fish and tank (Please excuse the back quality/glare or any algae on the glass, and the floating particles in the videos it was just after feeding time). It is hard to get a scale of the tank due to the fact that the rocks are very large (some over 13inches).
Please note the Neetroplus Nematopus came to me with their fins as they are in the pictures/ videos, pretty shredded up, and they are beginning to heal. Also the smaller A. Labiatus got a bit of a whopping by the Largest A. Labiatus establishing it's dominace as the tank boss after I changed around the aquascape.
I perform around 30-40% water changes every second day on this tank.
My final goal for this tank is to either keep a pair of A. Labiatus or a solo male, and a group of the Neetroplus Nematopus and to tweak the aquascape as the fish grow / time goes on.
I would love for others to post photos/ their experiences with N. Nematopus as I genuinely believe it is an overlooked/ underrated species in the hobby especially as they are fully of personality and are comical to watch swim in and out of rock structures as well as graze on the rock work. I plan to also keep this thread updated in the future!