Re-established Tropheus colony ... first Spawning

[VElderton]

First of all I want to thank Sir Keith, from this forum, for being a great host and inspiration on my my visit to the Seattle area.

I started dabbling in Tropheus sp. in November 2016. Through some fish buys and trading through BC Aquaria Forum I started with 3 Tropheus moorii "Ikola", 2 Tropheus moorii "Chilenga", 1 Tropheus moorii "Bemba" and 8 - Tropheus duboisi. It was a real mixed group but even so I had some success with T. duboisi spawning.

Then due to a slight tank water quality issue in the summer while I was away for a week in June 2017 I lost one of my breeding Tropheus duboisi females leaving me with too many males and not enough females for a viable group. I traded off the Ikola that seemed to harassing everyone and diligently sought enough Chilanga, Duboisi or Bemba to set up a new colony of at least 12 - 14 of the same species.

Late in 2017 a generaous BC Aquaria member offered his 13 adult Bemba to me. We were able to finally find a mutually time to pick them up in mid-February. After a couple of weeks of my lone male and the newcomers sorting themselves out while the new fish acclimatized to my tank conditions ... things started to look up this past week and based on this video footage I captured a couple days ago things are look promising.

Right now I have 14 - Bemba, 5 - Duboisi and 2 - Chilenga. They are not all in my main Tropheus sp. tank which is only a Fluval Venezia 190 L as it is too small. However in late April / early May I will be setting up a Fluval Venezia 350 L to house them. My goal is to house the 14 - Bemba with a similar group size of Duboisi or Chilenga in the new tank ... so I a am still on the hunt for a second breeding group.

 

[clownie]

I really love Tropheus! I just don't have the space for a large tank to house them.

 

[sir_keith]

I have a small colony of Tropheus sp. 'Red' Chimba that you can have if you are interested. There are about a dozen young adult F1's. They are very similar to Chilenga, and not too aggressive. I've had them for a while, and they breed regularly, but I need to make space for something different, mostly Tanganyikan sand-sifters- in my fish room.

 

[VElderton]

Thanks for the offer Keith ... do you think they should be okay mixed with my 2 Chilenga? I won't be setting up my 350 L until May ... will that be too long for you to hold them? In the meantime check out this video of the Biotope set-up as it is now ...

 

[sir_keith]

Do you mean 'will they get along?' I've never kept Chilenga, so I can't say. As Tropheus go, Chimba is not overly aggressive, so I wouldn't expect any problems.

The other issue, of course, is hybridization. As you know, Chilenga and Chimba are currently thought to be geographical variants of the same species, T. sp. 'Red.' Furthermore, they are quite similar in coloration, so unless there are behavioral cues that would mitigate against it, hybridization between the two is a distinct possibility. Sometimes you can tell if this is likely or not just by carefully watching how the two variants interact, but the only way to really know if you have hybrid fry is by DNA haplotyping, which I am no longer in a position to do. Of course, if you just leave the brooding females in situ, your Neolamprologus tretocephalus will take care of your excess fry problem.

No problem for me holding on to the Chimba for a while...

 

[VElderton]

Thanks for the follow-up Keith. I will keep you posted. I have checked in with the border import process there is a bit of paperwork to fill out but nothing really onerous as it turns out. We'll have to create an invoice that lists species name, that they are tank raised and going to another hobbyist tank ... it all seems pretty simples.

As long as stick to those requirements, they will let me import fish for private aquarium pet purposes once every 90 days.

One of the othe Vancouver hobbyists just posted all the paper work requirements on the BC Aquaria forum - very helpful.