Experience with neolamprologus tretocephalus?

[nzeng1111]

Anyone got experience with this fish? I'm hearing different opinions on how to minimize aggression with them. Some say pair only but others say group to diffuse aggression. Also do tankmates help? I've heard some people say that other fish will diffuse their aggression while others said to house them alone.
My current plan is 2-6 of them with 6 calvus and 15 jumbo cyps in a 6 foot tank

 

[1 2many]

They are naturally aggressive. Their aggression only intensifies when a pair is formed. My opinion the best way to keep aggression down is to keep in a “tough” community, provide plenty of room (125g+), and setup multiple defined territories. Larger Calvus/Compressiceps are good tank mates. Also Julidochromis, neolamprologus brichardi and Synodontis will work.

 

[nzeng1111]

They are naturally aggressive. Their aggression only intensifies when a pair is formed. My opinion the best way to keep aggression down is to keep in a “tough” community, provide plenty of room (125g+), and setup multiple defined territories. Larger Calvus/Compressiceps are good tank mates. Also Julidochromis, neolamprologus brichardi and Synodontis will work.

Will a large school of jumbo cyps work? I've seen them with many aggressive tanganyikans including a breeding group of 5 trets. Ime, jumbo cyps have an underrated aggression

 

[DJRansome]

I knew someone who was trying to breed them and overheard a conversation between him and a professional breeder. The advice was lots of females and a single male in a species tank...and they will still kill each other fairly often.

 

[nzeng1111]

I knew someone who was trying to breed them and overheard a conversation between him and a professional breeder. The advice was lots of females and a single male in a species tank...and they will still kill each other fairly often.

Is there a way of sexing them? From what I've heard subdominant males are pretty much indistinguishable from females (for good reason).

 

[1 2many]

Will a large school of jumbo cyps work? I've seen them with many aggressive tanganyikans including a breeding group of 5 trets. Ime, jumbo cyps have an underrated aggression

I haven’t kept Cyprichromis personally but I have seen them in Tanganyikan communities. They might work

 

[nzeng1111]

Is there a way of sexing them? From what I've heard subdominant males are pretty much indistinguishable from females (for good reason).

I saw a picture of the results of venting a male and female and they look virtually identical

 

[1 2many]

I saw a picture of the results of venting a male and female and they look virtually identical

It’s hard to tell them apart. When they mature the males will be bigger than the females. I only kept one in a community setup grew up to around 7” think it was male

 

[tiger15]

I keep 10 of them in a 75g. They are surprisingly very peaceful.. Even at full size, they rarely fight among themselves except when breeding is imminent, then I noticed some torn fins from pairing aggression. There is no way I can keep say 10 leulupi, tetracantus, cylindrica, calvus or daffodil in a 4 ft tank without killing one another. My tank is unique though in having many plants and rock caves to hide, so they disappear most of time only to come out at feeding time. In a more open environment, they may not be as peaceful as there are fewer places to retreat. I don’t find any sexual dimorphism except that male is larger, but they need to be full grown to be distinguishable.

 

[nzeng1111]

I keep 10 of them in a 75g. They are surprisingly very peaceful.. Even at full size, they rarely fight among themselves except when breeding is imminent, then I noticed some torn fins from pairing aggression. There is no way I can keep say 10 leulupi, tetracantus, cylindrica, calvus or daffodil in a 4 ft tank without killing one another. My tank is unique though in having many plants and rock caves to hide, so they disappear most of time only to come out at feeding time. In a more open environment, they may not be as peaceful as there are fewer places to retreat. I don’t find any sexual dimorphism except that male is larger, but they need to be full grown to be distinguishable.

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Awesome tank! How do they interact with the acara and severum? Also, how large are the acara and severum, I was under the impression that a full size male tretocephalus could get to 5-6 inches