Mixing Lake Tanganyika fish with non-african communities
- Thread starter Akeno071
- Start date
Do really like those Cyprichchromis, esp. the kitumba variants on that first link, so pretty and colourful. Though the idea of having to diddle to match their water parametres is something I dislike, having never done anything like that before, my ph sits very much in the 7ish neutral area etc. I had seen the P. nigripinnis before but hadn't considered them as I thought they wouldn't work well being similar to the Cyps.
I'm afraid that although the Gibberosa have gorgeous colours, their predatory nature towards the Cyps and the flowerhorn-esq hump on their head probably puts outside this homes hit-range. My mother once remarked that flowerhorns humps look like tumours!
I don't think Benthochromis are really too much of an option, my albeit poor googling skills find very little for them on sale to purchase, so I would have to ask a LFS to source them if possible, and that's sounding pricey.
What about Cyathopharynx Furcifer? They appeared as a suggestion when looking up the Benthochromes, would they potentially work with the other fish?
I'm afraid that although the Gibberosa have gorgeous colours, their predatory nature towards the Cyps and the flowerhorn-esq hump on their head probably puts outside this homes hit-range. My mother once remarked that flowerhorns humps look like tumours!
I don't think Benthochromis are really too much of an option, my albeit poor googling skills find very little for them on sale to purchase, so I would have to ask a LFS to source them if possible, and that's sounding pricey.
What about Cyathopharynx Furcifer? They appeared as a suggestion when looking up the Benthochromes, would they potentially work with the other fish?
I tend not to use such superlatives as stunning, I'm practically never stunned. But Cyathopharynx might come close in my vocabulary. In certain moods of linguistic exuberance I might call them spectacular. 
That said, I haven't kept them myself, and I've been told their peak colors are seen when courting or spawning, not full time. As far as requirements to keep them in terms of water, food, etc., don't remember what I've been told by people who keep them, aside from preferring exceptionally clean water. Maybe someone seeing this thread has experience with them. They've been a wish list fish for me for years, but I've never quite gotten around to keeping them... yet. I went back to my earlier interest in SAs some time back, my kapampa gibberosa being the one remaining artifact I've held on to from my African cichlid years. Which says something about my regard for them.
That said, I haven't kept them myself, and I've been told their peak colors are seen when courting or spawning, not full time. As far as requirements to keep them in terms of water, food, etc., don't remember what I've been told by people who keep them, aside from preferring exceptionally clean water. Maybe someone seeing this thread has experience with them. They've been a wish list fish for me for years, but I've never quite gotten around to keeping them... yet. I went back to my earlier interest in SAs some time back, my kapampa gibberosa being the one remaining artifact I've held on to from my African cichlid years. Which says something about my regard for them.
I'd assume they would probably enjoy similar conditions to the other Lake Tangs, if they're often with Cyprichchromis then they can't exactly be incompatible now.I tend not to use such superlatives as stunning, I'm practically never stunned. But Cyathopharynx might come close in my vocabulary. In certain moods of linguistic exuberance I might call them spectacular.
That said, I haven't kept them myself, and I've been told their peak colors are seen when courting or spawning, not full time. As far as requirements to keep them in terms of water, food, etc., don't remember what I've been told by people who keep them, aside from preferring exceptionally clean water. Maybe someone seeing this thread has experience with them. They've been a wish list fish for me for years, but I've never quite gotten around to keeping them... yet. I went back to my earlier interest in SAs some time back, my kapampa gibberosa being the one remaining artifact I've held on to from my African cichlid years. Which says something about my regard for them.
Popped round the LFS on the way back from jobcentre today. Saw your regarded kapampas actually, pretty fish but wrong bodyshape for me I'm afraid. They also had scarlet l114 plecos and I was like "ooooh" then I was like "awww" when I realised they weren't the l25 scarlets that I had found quite nice. Also had a peak into the 8ft display tank they have setup and saw this fish, not sure what it was but being in the tank they have with leleupis and other African cichlids I'm guessing its probably from a similar region.
I've tried being a purist and just found the tanks too boring for me. I've mixed in Tanganyikans with all sorts of community fish over the years. Where I live the tapwater is very hard with a pH well over 8, so Rift Lake cichlids love it. Sorry it's tank-cleaning day and haven't gotten to this one yet. By the way, yes that is a cardinal tetra on the far right. I like to keep a school of around 20 in there, but the last purchase brought in something that wiped most of them out.
Oops, forgot to say that I've kept and bred leleupi and calvus in a community tank just like this. Brichardi overwhelmed the tank with babies within 6 months, so I'm not repeating that again. The transcriptus are producing babies at a slow rate, but it's a pain to catch them out.
Thank you. I have hard water and have learned that only Anubias and crypts tend to survive long in my tanks. There are a couple of dwarf water lilies in there too. The black marked fish are Julidochromis transcriptus and the ones with the red stripes are Dennison's barbs/roseline sharks. They are excellent, peaceful, non-predatory community fish that school well and improve the looks of most tanks they are added to. Transcriptus are very territorial and the other fish move out of their way because they will take an occasional nip at them when they get too close. The tank is 160 gallons.
