View Full Version : Boulengerochromis Microlepis question
I would love to pick-up 1 or 2 large cichlids but am trying to figure out which to get. Dovii and Umbie both look the part but have way too much aggression for my soon to be community tank. Cichla seems to have many fans on this site but I would like a fish that will eat pellets (without starving them) and I hear they are prone to ick. Next up is B. Microlepis. I hear they will eagerly eat pellets and have the size I'm looking for. What is their personality like? Do they hide or come to the front of the tank? How is their color in person? And can someone confirm that they are only mildly aggressive towards other large fish?
PeacockBass
07-13-2005, 9:34 PM
How large is your tank?
12'x4'x2.5' . Have you kept B. Microlepis?
Oddball
07-13-2005, 11:07 PM
B. microlepis would do very well in a 12 ft tank. The only drawback may be the depth. This is a deep-water cichlid that has a threat response of either diving away from danger or breaching. Chance are you will have 3ft cichlids trying to go airborn. There aren't too many fish you could keep with them since anything that'll fit in their mouths will become food. These are top predators in their natural waters. Still, if you do go with these monster fish, keep us posted on how they do. I had a shoal of 5 years ago. I only raised them to 15" (give or take) before I had to sell them due to transferring to another ship.
Champsochromis caeruleus, the malawi trout is another good choice. This is a mouthbrooding large african cichlid that peaks out at about 14". The females are a little drab but, the males get to be a metallic blue with a posterior shift to yellow. And, when they get their breeding colors in they're as good looking as any saltwater fish. They keep the metallic blue and gain a large orange dot in each scale. Their ventral fins turn orange-red, and their tails get orange dashes them.
Thanks for the info on the malawi trout. Sounds interesting and not one I would of considered. Availability might be an issue though. So, how about the personality of the B. Microlepis? Did you feed pellets/dry at all?
PeacockBass
07-13-2005, 11:30 PM
Odd is right.
Also, note that cichla will also leap out of the water when frightened.
but that is unlikely to happen with an established fish. a 2-3 foot Micro is going to be a very good "pet" and quite smart like most cichlids.. it will take alot to freak it out, if its established. I say go for it.
Oddball- You also said you had a shoal of these guys. Any aggressive between them or just normal pecking order type dominance?
Thanks PB, B. Microlepis is now tops on my list
Oddball
07-13-2005, 11:47 PM
My shoal had a definite alpha-male with the deepest colors. I had a beta male and the rest were females. I never saw much aggression between them. There were chases around the 900gal but, I never saw so much as a split fin. They took pellet/stick foods reluctantly. Their diet consisted of live rosies, chopped beef heart, raw shell-on shrimp, and chicken hearts. Sometimes I'd throw them strips of squid just to watch them wrestle each other for it. They got to recognize me pretty quickly. If someone went into the room their tank was in, they'd swim around normally. Once I entered the room they would focus on me.
lophius
07-14-2005, 5:08 AM
I currently keep B microlepis in a 10x3 x 3 community tank and have never had any problems with jumping, diving or fright response.
I started with 7 and have found intraspecific aggression to be amongst the worst that I have seen in any cichlid - I had a pair form at about 16" after removing all other conspecifics - anyway all was fine until one day the male decided to kill the female - she was 22" at the time.
I keep my B microlepis with pbass and have no problems at all with aggression, both species are actually very similar in their habits and seem to get along fine - the only problems occur when the bass are getting ready to spawn.
Personality wise - pbass have more, B microlepis are a big fish that in my opinion have the personality of an arowana - they know that you exist but don't exactly care .
Males certainly have more colouration - mine has a lot of yellow and blue on a silver base - the fins have interesting spotting pattern, detail on the face is nice too. my male is about 24" currently.
Feeding has never been a problem - they eat like pigs .
carl
I currently keep B microlepis in a 10x3 x 3 community tank and have never had any problems with jumping, diving or fright response.
I started with 7 and have found intraspecific aggression to be amongst the worst that I have seen in any cichlid - I had a pair form at about 16" after removing all other conspecifics - anyway all was fine until one day the male decided to kill the female - she was 22" at the time.
I keep my B microlepis with pbass and have no problems at all with aggression, both species are actually very similar in their habits and seem to get along fine - the only problems occur when the bass are getting ready to spawn.
Personality wise - pbass have more, B microlepis are a big fish that in my opinion have the personality of an arowana - they know that you exist but don't exactly care .
Males certainly have more colouration - mine has a lot of yellow and blue on a silver base - the fins have interesting spotting pattern, detail on the face is nice too. my male is about 24" currently.
Feeding has never been a problem - they eat like pigs .
carl
My experince with them was similar to yours. I kept them in a trio and the domiant male would rough up the other two. I guess if you kept them in a shoal like oddball did then the male would be able to spread his aggresion out over many fish. They do mostly ignore other. Maybe an occansional chase. They are by no means dovii or umbie. I think you will do fine with them.
They will eat pellets if they are brought up on them when young.
The TRUST
07-14-2005, 11:55 AM
I currently have a group of 8 B.microlepis. They range in size from 6"-9" the smallest one ebing blind in one eye due to aggression. They are very aggressive to each other and I see a lot of missing scales and wounds every now and then. They will sometimes show aggression to other fish as well. I had a 6" Cichla Temensis living with them and was raised with them since they were smaller, but the B. microlepis eat like pigs and eat pellets and grow much faster. I was planning on letting Neal (Peacock Bass) grow the temensis out for me but the next morning it was too late. The Emperors had ganged up on the temensis. Emperors are eating machines. All the do is eat and sh@t. and they sh@t a lot!!!!! My tank is 250Gs and I do roughly about 175G-200G of water change every 4 days just to keep up with the waste they produce.
As for personality, I agree that Cichla have more personality. I like to play the coin toss at the tank game with them with their lightning fast attacks. Emperors are just impressive to look at. They act more like a Giant Oscar.
PeacockBass
07-14-2005, 1:45 PM
1 thing you will realize is most aggressive cichlids are usually Hyper aggressive when young, and then quickly mellow out.
In the case with Micros they are extremely aggressive when young, especially to each other.. but when they start to grow up, you will see a decline in aggression... This does not mean they turn into puppy dogs though. Everyone who posted is right.
it really depends on the fish you have. I have had hyper aggressive cichla! which is weird!
get a couple and see how it goes.
PeacockBass
07-14-2005, 1:47 PM
Oh BTW- Your tank is quite large, You should have virtually little trouble with aggression.
When I had my 10x10 foot system, I was seeing NO aggression even with extremely aggressive fish.
lophius,
I've seen your fish posted elsewhere and they are indeed very impressive. Please post some updates here when you get a chance. I'm sure you will have a lot of fans. Thanks for your insight.
The Trust-
Where did you pick-up your B. Micrlepis? Rapps doesn't currently have them in stock. You sure do some massive water changes. Do you have a wet/dry filtration system? I do realize that you like to overstock. Thanks.
fishing4exotics
07-15-2005, 11:57 AM
Post a pick of that 12' tank!
National geographic channel has a show about emperors and other african cichlids(all tangs) they show a pair of emperors defending their eggs from a 15 pound turtle.They knocked it on its back and drove it away. They also showed frontasa,T.dhonti,L.elogatus, and many others.
I plan the order the DVD from them.
piranha45
07-15-2005, 12:47 PM
they show a pair of emperors defending their eggs from a 15 pound turtle.They knocked it on its back and drove it away.
DUUUUUUUDE! :22_yikes:
It was on living wild. I think it might be coming on again today...If you want to see it you better check..
The TRUST
07-15-2005, 1:36 PM
The Trust-
Where did you pick-up your B. Micrlepis? Rapps doesn't currently have them in stock. You sure do some massive water changes. Do you have a wet/dry filtration system? I do realize that you like to overstock. Thanks.
Yes I did another 200G water change last night. Now the water is a bit clearer. I have a dual wet dry system.
Where u located. I will be parting my group out in the near future if you're interested in some.
The TRUST
07-15-2005, 1:38 PM
National geographic channel has a show about emperors and other african cichlids(all tangs) they show a pair of emperors defending their eggs from a 15 pound turtle.They knocked it on its back and drove it away. They also showed frontasa,T.dhonti,L.elogatus, and many others.
I plan the order the DVD from them.
it's called JEWEL OF THE RIFT
There's no DVD for it, but you can buy it on VHS. Great Video. Highly recomended. It was because of that Turtle scene that sold me on getting Emps.
Peanut_Power
07-15-2005, 3:11 PM
LOL!! You crack me up bro...can't member if you name is Jed or Ned though....bugga it all. This is PereguineFalcon by the way....hehe...member me? I still member when that carp stole your fishing pole....that was great!! I can finally catch you some of those gars and pikes!! If you still want them that is. Gonna be coming back to Washington in about a month or so..lemme know whats up bro! And watch out for those cops in Tri-cities area! :P....On the side note...I'm surprised you got such small fish...lol...you normally buy them big!! :D
Yes I did another 200G water change last night. Now the water is a bit clearer. I have a dual wet dry system.
Where u located. I will be parting my group out in the near future if you're interested in some.
I would love a pair but I'm in Ohio. If your up for shipping maybe we can work something out. My 900g will not be here for a few months so they would have to go in a 125g for now. Can you post some close-ups of your Micros? Thanks
The TRUST
07-15-2005, 5:51 PM
Oh I can ship no problem, but only ship through air Cargo though. Which is better for big fish anyways.
Here is a link to my 250G pics :)
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/566
pics were taken last month. they have grown since then. they are now on the other side of teh dvidier and the Big Cichla on the other now so he wont eat them. that way they have more swimming room and more space to grow.
Red Devil
07-16-2007, 6:55 PM
I would love to pick-up 1 or 2 large cichlids but am trying to figure out which to get. Dovii and Umbie both look the part but have way too much aggression for my soon to be community tank. Cichla seems to have many fans on this site but I would like a fish that will eat pellets (without starving them) and I hear they are prone to ick. Next up is B. Microlepis. I hear they will eagerly eat pellets and have the size I'm looking for. What is their personality like? Do they hide or come to the front of the tank? How is their color in person? And can someone confirm that they are only mildly aggressive towards other large fish?
oh your baby is so sweet... what kind is he/her?? :D