New set-up, bare tank. Thinking Calvus, have questions.

[lucky777]

I just loading up my established 50 gallon with some rock.  In about a months time the local store will be getting a big Tanganyika order so I have to make some decisions and plan ahead. I was thinking I've always wanted some black Calvus; however I'm not sure about numbers and tank mates.  Tank is L= 40", W = 16", H = 20"

I've been reading and I thought maybe 5 Calvus to start would be good since they seem to do well in groups.  I wanted something with nice colour like leleupi (but less aggressive) and maybe some shellies in a nice shell bed on one side of the tank.  I just can't seem to rap my head around how many fish I can successfully maintain in a 50 Gallon with these species and their compatibility with the Calvus.

Any suggestions on tank mates and numbers would be appreciated.  In the mean time I'll just keep on reading

[lucky777]

Trying to get a idea still!

3-4 Altolamprologus calvus or 3-4 Altolamprologus compressiceps (Maybe mix a few of each?)

3-4 Lamprologus' ocellatus (Gold) or 3-4 'Lamprologus' caudopunctatus

3-4 Neolamprologus leleupi ------ I read that they never do well with shellies. I had them with Telmtachromis Temp years ago they never hurt her but they did eat the fry.
Contemplated some Julidochromis as a possibility?



I'm trying to find colour and non similar patterns to the Calvus, any suggestions or comments are appreciated

[bitterman]

Is spawning your goal?

You realize compressiceps will interbreed? So if you are going to keep any of the fry you might want to stick with one type.

Also if you start with fry they grow very very slow! from fry to 1.25" is a year or more and most fish grow fastest there first year so it slows down after that.

Bruce

[robt18]

Julis would go well with them, either transcriptus or marleiri.

Like Bruce said, stick with one type of calvus or compressiceps if you go that route. Great fish, one of my faves!

I've never really had aggression issues with smaller Tanganyikans as long as there's plenty of rock work in the tank and everyone is properly fed. If you do go with the Lelupi I would recommend a group of 6+ and try to get a bunch of females. Males tend not to get along very well and might pick each other off or take out the females if they're lower on numbers (one of the few aggression problems I've experienced after telling you I didn't have any )

Interested to see how this tank turns out!

[lucky777]

I travelled to the only LFS which is about 1 + hours away in Point Claire and all I could get my hands on was 4 Altolamprologus compressiceps (Gold Head) and 4 'Lamprologus' ornatipinnis; however in another month there is a huge cichlid order coming in.

So my questions are, do you have any experience with the Ornatipinnis? From what I've seen I ended up with 2 males and 2 females, So I was thinking i'd keep 1 male  2 females after watching them for a while or should I try to keep 2 pair?

Is it even close to possible to try and sex the Alto's while there a 2"?

Any other suggestions on dither fish or another type of Tang I could throw in? Someone had mentioned Paracyps? Seems like it will be pretty bare if I only end up with a pair of each.

Thank you again.

[robt18]

I've never had luck with Paracyps colouring up or really being active when they've been with anything bigger or more active than them. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but my male never really popped like I wanted.

I bought a few black calvus a couple years back that were under 2" and vented them all no problem.

If you're looking at altos and are picky, make sure you recognize the difference between calvus and compressiceps!