CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hello all-

I am new here to this group, just joined. So thought I would tell you a little about myslef, and my fihsie friends...

I have only been keeping fish for about 5 to 6 years now. Started as most of us did with goldfish, then to tropicals. Now I keep Fancy goldfish, and also African Cichlids. The tanks I have are 55 gallon with the fancy goldfish, 90 gallon with Africans, and a 125 gallon with africans.

55 gallon:
2 Ryukin, and 2 Veiltail.
Filtered with a Fluval 403, water changes weekly to by weekly. Feed pellets Hikari{variety}, Romain Lettuce, and Fozen Peas.

90 gallon:
1 pair of Copadichromis Borleyi,1 Trio of Electric Blue Haps{1 male 2 females}, 3 Yellow lab{male},1 German Red Pea**** {male}, 1 Sail fin Pleco {7 inches} 1 bushy nose pleco.
Filtered with a Fluval 404, water changes weekly, substrate is sand, for rock I have river rock mostly, feed Hikari pellets{variety}, Romain lettuce, Frozen peas, Fozen Brine shrimp.


125 galllon:
1 pair of Tilapia Buttikoferi,1 pair of Colbalt Blue Zebra, 1 pair of Red Zebra, 11 Yellow Labs{ 7 females,4 male} 1 comoon pleco{14 inches} 1 pair of bushy nose pleco.
Flitered with 2 Fluval 404's, substrate is sand, water changes weekly,for rock I have slate, feed Hikari pellets {variety}, Romain lettuce, frozen peas, Frozen brine shrimp.


I also have 2 dogs {Shiba Inu's} named Treasure and Abby, also have a cat named Sparky.

I know this is a long post but please bear with me. I also have a question:

I have read that Buttikoferi can be nasty fish. Mine are still small {7 and 6 inches} compared to what they will be as full grown adults. So far they have pretty mild mannered, this could be becasue I bougt them rather samll, and have grown up with these fish, they have as tank mates. I would like to know how large they are when breeding behavior will start, and do they under go any color change, or pattern when breeding?

I am also interested in adding 2 Venutus{a pair} to this tank. Haven't done so yet, but would like to. Could anyone let me know if they think they would be compatable?


Thankyou in advance!

Trish

welcome to the forums

Alot of buttikoferi are mean from the start and seem to get even worse once they hit 4-5" so maybe yours won't get to bad, especially since they're in a good sized tank with so many other fish.All those smaller fish will probally divide up the aggression pretty well.


Sounds like some nice setups you've got,if you have the ability to take pictures cichlidfish.com also offers picture hosting and I'm sure people would be interested in checking out your collection.


sorry no help from me on the Venutus question but some of the board members who keep more africans will probally give you some input later.

Thankyou for the wellcome!

As for pictures would love to share them. The problem is we just got this computer, and I haven't hooked up my digital camera to it yet. So when I do that I would be glad to post some pictures. Like all us cichlid lovers I like to talk about and show my fish off as well! lol

I had read that Tilapia can get mean as well, but have also read that if they seem "fine", it means that they do not feel threatend. Which is a good thing! So far mine haven't showen that aggression. So I guess time will tell!

Do you know if they change their appearance at all during breeding time?


Thanks

Trish

Indeed Tilapia Buttikoferi are extremely mean, up there in like the top 3-4 meanest cichlid, so just as another warning, they will most likely do some real damage to your other fish. You have a pair, so I'm sure they will be even worse when they get fry in the tank! I don't know how big, how they act, or if they change color or anything when breeding (or about to), that's a good question, I wish I knew. Also, aren't Buttikoferi non-lake cichlids? I didn't think they lived in high PH waters. I just bring this up because you have them in with several lake cichlids.

It does sound like you have very nice tanks, keep up the good work.

Welcome to Cichlidfish!

I have been trying to do some research on these fish,and have found some information, but notmuch on their breeding behavoir. Other than the usual cichlid behavior.

Mine both have formed these dots, in a specific pattern along their faces, and going to their sides. Both of them have the exact same pattern. So it isn't disease or anything like that. It was really strong about 1 month ago, then faded, an now is comming back again, so was wondering if this was a show of change for breeding. Haven't notcied any sighns for them to breed yet. But am watching them closely. So far they haven't done any damage to the other fish. I have lots of rock, so their is alot of hiding places for them to go since they are so much smaller, than the Tilapia Bullikoferi's.

Thanks

Trish

Heh, I dunno, sounds interesting. Perhaps stilllearnin knows, he seems to know EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING

Well I guess we will have to wait to see if he will reply to this thread.

Hope so, like I said it has been hard to find that information on these fish.

I also am new here. I have a 75 gallon tank. The only thing I have in it is two Oscars, six Zebras (to get the tank started), and some Guppies so my Oscars can have live bait if they want. I dont really know to much about anything as far as fish go so any help or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated

Mine both have formed these dots, in a specific pattern along their faces, and going to their sides.

Sometimes they form "dots" instead of bars the bigger they get and some of their bars may break up and become sort of a dotted pattern as they get older.

Unfortuneatly I'm not really involved with many africans so I don't have much information for you.But CK is right they are accustomed to lower PH then lake cichlids.

have you seen:

this info page ?
or this one?
other then those I don't know of any good information sites on them
fishbase's page dosen't even give much


ConvictKid LOL - I've still got alot of reading, experimenting and learnin to do with africans and now thats on hold for some other projects



Derek welcome to the forums

just a suggestion,it's best not to mix new world (americas) and old world cichlids(africans) in the same tank if you have a chance it'd be best to seperate the oscars and the zebras because their requirements are different and the zebras could become oscar snacks eventually.

Thanks for the information, but I had already seen those pages. I have done alot of research about them, so laready know abou them and their habits. I am trying to find out about more of the breeding part.

The Tilapia Buttikoferi are from Africa though. West Africa, and I do know they don't need as hard as water as the Malawi cichlids need. It says they can thrive in almost any water, my water is not quite at an for ph. So they are ok.

Their has been ALOT of digging going on, someone in the tnak is maing huge piles of sand. It is going all the way down to the glass, so it makes me think that it is them. I haven't seen "them" do it, I watched them yesterday for about 2 hours, but didn't see them dig. When I turned on their lights yesterday morning, that is when I saw the piles of sand.

As to the dots, it is in a distinct pattern, and it is the same on both of them. Their bars, are still the same. These dots are very small, but you can see them.

Thanks for the information though. Every bit helps. We are always learning with our fish! I even think sometimes they teach us, a thing or two.

SORRY! Didn't put the ph range.....it is at about 8 for ph.

Thanks,

About the digging, pretty much ALL cichlids dig. I have even seen my plecos dig under pots.

Even though most all cichlids can adapt to any range of PH, I would strongly suggest moving the Tilapia if you can, it is always best to keep a fish to it's natural water conditions, this is more important (IMO) if you want a fish to breed. Alot of times, the life of a fish' eggs depends on PH as well. You might be able to pull off getting your Buttikoferi to breed, and eggs to live to wigglers. But I think you'll have a much better chance with lower PH.

I have read that their ph is to be Alkaline, although they do not require it to be as hard as other africans.....but they can thrive form neutral to alkaline. And my ph isn't that high. I have had them now for about 9 months, and haven't had any problems.

As being able to move them to naother tnak, can't do that....I jsut moved out of the 90 gallon to the 125. That's the largest I have.....for now anyways........would love to have larger, but I am sure my husband won't alow that......lol

Thanks,

stilllearnin: Well, the only reason I have the Zebras in there is because someone told me they are a very hard fish to kill and would be good to start my tank out. After my tank is up and going I don't plan on keeping the Zebras so I was just going to let the Oscars eat them. Also, how often would I need to clean my tank?

how often would I need to clean my tank?

The average people do cleaning and water changes is probally weekly some do it more often some do it a little less, it somewhat depends on how your filtration is and how much you feed and how often