African cichlid keepers

[Betty]

Just wondering who on the forum keeps Africans!

What are you keeping?

Most of my fish are getting quite old, but I still have some cherry spot Tropheus, N. leleupi, J. marlieri, A. calvus, P. multicolor Victoriae, and a few mbuna -- L. caeruleus, P. flavus, I. sprengerae.

 

[Bob]

Oh boy, lets see.

Aulonocara Baenschi
Iodotropheus sprengerae Rusty
Pseudotropheus saulosi
Metriaclima aurora
Pseudotropheus crabro
Copadichromis borleyi Red Fin
Haplochromis Ruby Green
Pundamilia nyererei Ruti Island
Pundamilia Black Widow
psammochromis riponianus
Taeniolithrinops laticeps
Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor victoriae
Placidochromis Phenochilus Tanzania
Teleogramma brichardi
nanochromis splendens
nanochromis nudiceps
nanochromis consortus
Pelvicachromis Taeniatus Moliwe
Pelvicachromis rubrolabiatus Dikiya
Lamprologus ocellatus gold
Neolamprologus multifasciatus
Paracyprichromis nigripinnis
Cyprichromis leptosoma Utinta
Julidochromis marlieri
Altolamprologus compressiceps Red Fin
Neolamprologus leleupi
Neolamprologus tretocephalus

I am sure i am missing a few.

 

[lloyd378]

I have a tank dedicated to yellow head comps and some calvus

 

[L190]

Xenotilapia kilesa
Cyprichromis leptosoma
calves
Comps
Leleupi

 

[Betty]

Nice species. I've always wanted to try cyps. Vicmacki, you have a few of the species that I used to keep way back when I first started with cichlids. I think the crabro was one of my favorites.

 

[Paintguy]

I have kept a tank full of Saulosi for about 5 years now another tank with a beautiful Hap (Copadichromis borleyi) and a Bumble Bee.

 

[SonicsDC25]

1. Aulonocara sp. Dragon Blood
2. Aulonocara sp. Baenschi
3. Aulonocara sp. Ngara Flametail
4. Aulonocara sp. German Red
5. Aulonocara sp. Blue Regal
6. Aulonocara sp. Red Shoulder
7. Aulonocara sp. Blue Neon
8. Aulonocara sp. OB
9. Chilotilapia Rhoadesii
10. Copadichromis Borleyi
11. Cyphotilapia Frontosa
12. Cyrtocara Moorii
13. Lethrinop Red Cap
14. Nimbochromis Venustus
15. Otopharynx Lithobates
16. Placidochromis Electra
17. Placidochromis Jalo
18. Protomelas Insignis
19. Protomelas Taeniolatus

 

[Elblin]

Tropheus sp. Red Lunanguwa South
Tropheus Polli
Tropheus Ikola
Tropheus Moorii Murago
Tropheus sp. Black Bulu Point
Tropheus Brichardi Kabimba Canary Cheek
Cyprichromis leptosoma (Mpulungu) Blue Flash
Cyprichromis sp. "Leptosoma Jumbo" (Tricolor)
Cyprichromis sp. "Leptosoma (Livua) Blue Orchid
Ophthalmotilapia Nasuta Magara Green Tiger
Enantiopus sp. "Kilesa"
Eretmodus cyanostictus (Kasanga)
Altolamprologus calvus (Black)
Altolamprologus compressiceps (Gold Head)
Lamprologus ocellatus (Gold)
Synodontis petricola
Synodontis Angelicus

 

[Bob]

Cyprichromis sp. "Leptosoma (Livua) Blue Orchid

Pics!!

 

[Sleeves]

my 150 is all Mbunas... they are breeding like crazy!

 

[Jeeperman]

1. Aulonocara sp. Dragon Blood
2. Aulonocara sp. Baenschi
3. Aulonacara ureaka red
4. Aulonocara sp. Blue Regal
5. Aulonocara sp. Red Shoulder
6. Aulonocara sp. OB
7. placidochromis sp jalo
8. Placidochromis Phenochilus Tanzania
9. placiichromis Johnstoni Solo
10. placidichromis milomo vc-10
11. Copadichromis Borleyi
12. Cyphotilapia Frontosa/Gibberosa Mpimbwe blue
13. Lethrinops Sp intermedius
14. Lethrinop Red Cap
15. Nimbochromis Venustus
16. Otopharynx Lithobates
17. Dimidiochromis compressiceps
18. protomelas Mbenji thicklip
19. Protomelas Sp Steveni Tiawan
20. Common Pleco
21. Synodontis Multipunctis

Oh 22. and depending on how he gets along, one new little Victorian. Sp #44 Thickskin.

 

[hose91]

I keep a 75G tall acrylic show tank in my home office with Mbuna and syno Petricola cats. I started 18 months ago (April 2014) with 3 groups, Maingano (Ps. Cyaneorhabdos), Metriaclima sp. Membe Deep, and Labidochromis Perlmutts. The Membe deep group is down to 2, a single male and a female who haven't bred. I rehomed some males, and lost one or two females to agression. I've got 4 Perlmutts of indeterminate sex. I think I have a male and 3 females, but they haven't bred and it's hard to really tell, they're not the dominant species in the tank. That'd be the maingano. 7 of them in the tank, the largest male is the tank boss now after I removed a particularly nasty Membe Deep, and he's fairly mellow. They breed like crazy. 4 of the 7 are second generation fish, and currently two are holding. I've rescued at least three fry out of the bottom of my eheim canisters when cleaning them, and 2 of them are still around in a growout tank. After a bunch of rehoming, I'd gotten down to around 12 fish in the tank, and the aggression was actually worse, as I had several fish living in the upper corners of the tank too often. I added a group of tropheops elongatus Mbuna that I picked up from Geiler Aquatics, and as a group they've totally calmed the tank down and they look great mixed in. They were an excellent pick up that turned out better than I'd hoped!

I love the activity, the tank stays pretty algae free with a Current LED freshwater+ light on it, and the Mbuna are always good for a show at feeding time. I have some west african Kribensis in a 29G as well, and have just finished setting up a 40B for a Tanganyikan tank as well.

I live on Bainbridge and am on a shared well, so my water seems to be opposite of the Seattle water out of the Cedar and Tolt river watersheds. It comes out of my tap at 7.7 or so, with about 8 degrees total hardness and 7 deg carbonate hardness, so it seems to be pretty solid water for them, although I do add a bit of baking soda and epsom salt to the big tank at water changes, which they seem to appreciate.

 

[finray56]

I have been keeping African cichlids for the past fifteen years, I love'm. I'm actually surprised more people don't keep them as they are so hardy and easy to maintain plus their colors can be amazing. Here is what I am currently keeping;

Tropheus Duboisi
Tropheus Golden Kiriza
Cyathopharynx Foai Kachese
Petrochromis Red Bulu
Hongi Sweden
Eretmodus Cyanostictus Kasanga

 

[Cory]

In your opinion are petros any more aggressive or harder to keep than tropheus? Or just basically a larger version of tropheus?

 

[finray56]

In your opinion are petros any more aggressive or harder to keep than tropheus? Or just basically a larger version of tropheus?

I actually think they are a bit easier to keep. They are easy to feed and I'm not so worried about bloat. Temperament wise I can only really comment on the Bulu's as I have not kept other petros, that being said I actually think these are mellow compared to some Tropheus. My alpha male usually keeps the rest of the group to one end of the tank unless of course he's interested in a female.other than that there has been very little aggression at all. You know when Tropheus make up their mind they don't like a certain member of the colony it's usually over and out. I know from the forums though that some of the other Petros you don't want to mess with.
My Bulu have danced a bit but no spawning so far but they are young. The colony is almost 2 years old, I got them when they were under an inch in size so it's been fun watching them grow. Unfortunately I may end up selling this colony, I'm not a 100% sure yet though. I hurt my spine/neck this year and if it does not get better soon I may be forced to downgrade my tanks, less fish equals less work and my Tropheus are still my favorites. Time will tell. (00)

 

[finray56]

 

[mickyfree]

Man, where to start. I am currently in the process of setting up a breeding room. My groups that I will breed personally are;
Otter Point
Blue Neon Chiwindi
Albino Fire Blue Lupingu
Green Face Mloto
OB's
Malawi Trout
Fossochromis Rostratus
Taiwan Reef (split gene)
Syno Multipunctatus Catfish

Of these fish, about half are close to or are breeding size. The rest I have and am growing out. Currently, I have about 10 tanks running with a ton of different fish. last time I counted, I had about 70-80 different species. I can work on making a list if anyone is interested. I just moved into a house that I will be setting up my room in so all of this is in progress currently. Most of my fish come from Lake Malawi with a few out-liars from Victoria.

Cheers!
Mick

 

[Will I am]

Nothing but the 5 spot Hemichromis species here

 

[sir_keith]

Tropheus moorii Kasakalawe
Tropheus brichardi Kabimba (Canary Cheek)
Tropheus annectens Kalugunga
Tropheus sp. ‘ikola’
Tropheus sp. ‘black’ Bemba
Tropheus sp. ‘black’ Bulu Point
Tropheus sp. ‘red’ Chimba
Tropheus sp. ‘red’ Lunanguwa South

Ophthalmotilapia Nasuta Magara Green Tiger
Eretmodus cyanostictus Kasanga

 

[finray56]

I still have my Red Bulu colony, Foai Kachese , Tropheus Kiriza Gold, and my Tropheus Duboisi. I'm looking to try something new like a large Hap / Peacock tank, first I have to find new owners for the Bulu and Kachese colonies. Here's a brand new (today) video of the Bulu. Enjoy !