Altolamprologus calvus White Chaitika

[Betty]

My calvus from the group buy back in September are all still alive and growing, ever so slowly.

 

[Addictedtofish]

I have 1 male and 7 females, I bought mine from Spyral when he broke down his 180g tank. So there going to be from the same group buy. How many males and females do you have?

 

[Betty]

I really don't have a clue what their sexes are. One is a bit larger than the others, so it might be safe to assume that one is a male, but the other four I can't tell yet. They are still pretty small. I had ordered six, but one was DOA.

Do you have any pictures of yours? How big are they?

 

[larry.beck]

I have 4 from that order; 2 are larger (about 2") and 2 smaller (1-1.5") so I'm assuming 2M:2F, which is what I asked for. Hoping to get at least 1 pair from them.

I also got 4 inkfins and 4 goldheads from the same order. One of the goldheads didn't make it but so far as I know the rest are still alive. They are seldom all out at one time though, so it's hard to be certain.

 

[gobluecichlids]

I learned from a breeder that calvus are slow growing, it takes a yr to reach 1". He mentioned if I plan to breed them ASAP, get a wild pair instead of waiting to grow out the juvies (it cost more to grow them out).

 

[larry.beck]

Yeah, my understanding is the same. I've actually been fairly happy with the growth rate of mine so far. I feed NLS grow in the morning and a mixture of frozen foods (mostly shrimp of a variety of types and plankton) in the evening. They've put on a good 1" of growth since I received them in September.

 

[Betty]

I've also heard they are slow growers. I was feeding them three small meals each day, but have dropped that down to two.

Larry and Addicted, do yours do much digging? I was surprised at how much sand mine move out from under the rocks. I hadn't expected them to be diggers, so I had to re-set my rocks to keep them from falling.

 

[Addictedtofish]

Mine are the same size as Larry's Male is 2" and the females are 1.5". I have a 100 gal tank that I have 4 Burundi Frontosa's, 4 Mpimbwe Frontosa's, 3 FM Compressiceps, 2 Leleupi's, 1 M Bushy nose Pleco, 1 adult Featherfin Catfish, and 1M and 6 FM white Calvus. With white silica sand with Texas holey rock, and fake plants. Ill get a picture of it this weekend.

Yea my cavus and compressiceps move alot of sand under the rocks, I use to have an adult inkfin calvus that a rock collapsed on it and killed it.

 

[larry.beck]

Interesting... my calvus don't appear to be moving sand at all. I have them in with calvus, comps, cyps, frontosa and a elipsifer eel. All are juveniles. Tank has 3M ColorQuartz substrate.

I always put my rocks all the way to the bottom now - it's just a habit at this point.

 

[Betty]

I wonder what the digging is about? Territory or hiding? They are too small to be showing any breeding behavior. I've got the rocks set up to create some small hiding areas and cracks for them to get into, but they seem to want to make their own arrangement.

Guess I need to do more research. I've read that they like to hide and spawn in shells, but I was hoping to avoid that -- I don't really like the look of shells in the tank.

 

[Betty]

Some updated photos. I ended up putting a few shells in the tank after a problem I had with trying to order caves from Ken's Fish.
I think I have two males and three females based on size and behavior. The two larger fish have each claimed a side of the tank. One is using a shell and the other has dug out a cave under a rock. The three smaller ones are allowed into those territories.

 

[larry.beck]

Interesting to see how much black your white's are showing. Mine are much lighter. I do have them on white sand, but they're against stark black rocks.

 

[Madness]

Very awesome looking fish. I bought my son a Black and a White and he swears they are both White Calvas because the Black on hasn't darkened up yet.

Those really look good. :spoton:

 

[Betty]

Thanks, madness.

Larry, I don't know why they look so dark. It varies, but they aren't always like that -- maybe they don't like it when the camera starts flashing on them.

 

[VsKitchen]

Very attractive fish

 

[stierwalt3]

Very nice!

Now Betty tell me....how do you keep your tanks soooo clean!? :spoton:

 

[Anonymous]

Wow guys, great looking calvus.

 

[Betty]

Thank you.

Stierwalt3, credit for the clean tank goes to a bristlenose pleco.