A few general questions about Duboisi

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Poekin

Gambusia
MFK Member
Oct 17, 2008
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Baltimore, Maryland
I'm thinking about adding one to my Tangy tank. I've already got some mobas, some white calvus and yellow labs. I've been reading the general stuff about these guys, and have a few quick questions:

1) I've read they should be kept in large colonies for the most part. Usually 5 females to each male. But an article i read said that you can keep a single duboisi without much of a problem, and that this is best for a community tangy tank.
Is this true? It seems like this would be the best bet for me because i don't want them to be fin nippy at all and this seems as though it would lower aggression.

2) As far as them needing a mainly vegetarian diet, i can easily provide that. My rocks have plenty of algae and i usually put a piece of zucchini/cucumber on my veggie clip everyday for my other fish to graze on. But i feed my other fish NLS for the most part, and i also mix in the occasional brine shrimp/mysis shrimp cube as a treat. I would imagine the duboisi would eat these as well, but will this be a bad thing for them to ingest?

I read that they can have SOME protein, but it shouldn't be the staple of their diet. Hopefuly NLS would be ok for them to eat every once in a while (i doubt they would be able to resist it, especially with the other fish eating it right in front of them). Will the algae and the veggie clips keep them from going after the protein rich food?

Thanks :D
 
Well thats great news :) Thanks Mike.

Do you think they will be a good match with the calvus and frontosa? Right now the tank is quite peaceful. How many do you think i should start off with?
 
NLS is fine, I feed mine NLS and Ocean Nutrition spirulina. Tropheus Duboisi are the least aggressive of all the Tropheus. Moorii and Brichardi are far more aggressssive. I dont see a problem with just one, although I hear they dont do as well as they would do in large groups. My duboisi are the only fish I have mixed right now. I have my 25 Kigoma Dubs mixed with 20 Kigoma Gobies and they actually do crowd control. If the gobies start fighting with each other the duboisi go and break it up. Just one would be okay in your tank because I dont think one would be to hyper-active for the frontosa.
 
Agreed one will be fine, with most troph's if you have other aggressive fish that can handle themselves shouldn't be an issue, if you have one male and a few females than you would have a problem with breeding and territorial issues..

As for foods just make sure the list ingredient is no more than 39% protein on the % chart on the back of the container so to avoid bloat and supplement like you said with green stuffs algae alone will not suffice, a good spirulina, kelp and Nori would go far..

Just my experience in all.. later my friend..
 
To me trophs and duboisis like to nip fins when I had them with my fronts they were bad about that and would piss the fronts off and get chashed around the tank
 
I stopped by the local fish store and picked up one "Starry Night" Tropheus Duboisi. Apparently, this variety doesn't lose its spots. It doesn't really matter to me because i think they are attractive in their juvenile and adult stages.

But the little guy is doing great :) Gets along great with the frontosa, who are just a bit larger than him. He doesn't look like he would hurt a fly and he is happy nibbling on the rocks. I gave him some cucumber and he really likes that. I think i am going to try to get him some seaweed from the asian market up the street. Overall, he goes nuts for NLS the most (just like my other fish), but i am trying to get him to eat more fresh veggies.

My question for you guys is: Should i quit while i am ahead and keep the 1? I am so tempted to go buy 3 or 4 more, but i don't want to spark up any aggression. I've read that it's either keep 1, or keep 12+ so that the aggression is spread out. He is just such an attractive fish that i would really like a few more.

I watched the "Starry Nights" in their tanks for a bit at the LFS, and saw no aggression even though there were only about 8 of them and they didn't have any rocks to hide in. Perhaps they are too young to be aggressive?
 
Poekin,

My 75 gallon Tang Tank sounds very similar to yours. I also added one Duboisi, and fell in love with it. It was not harassing my other tangs, including fronts, and all was so peaceful. Then I bought another. As soon as I added the other the original went from peaceful, to mean as all get out, he chased the other one to the point of near death, so I netted the other out and put him in my quarantine tank.

In my experience 1 is the only way to go in a Tang community tank.

Just my opinion, from my experience.
 
Poekin;2696619; said:
I stopped by the local fish store and picked up one "Starry Night" Tropheus Duboisi. Apparently, this variety doesn't lose its spots. It doesn't really matter to me because i think they are attractive in their juvenile and adult stages.

But the little guy is doing great :) Gets along great with the frontosa, who are just a bit larger than him. He doesn't look like he would hurt a fly and he is happy nibbling on the rocks. I gave him some cucumber and he really likes that. I think i am going to try to get him some seaweed from the asian market up the street. Overall, he goes nuts for NLS the most (just like my other fish), but i am trying to get him to eat more fresh veggies.

My question for you guys is: Should i quit while i am ahead and keep the 1? I am so tempted to go buy 3 or 4 more, but i don't want to spark up any aggression. I've read that it's either keep 1, or keep 12+ so that the aggression is spread out. He is just such an attractive fish that i would really like a few more.

I watched the "Starry Nights" in their tanks for a bit at the LFS, and saw no aggression even though there were only about 8 of them and they didn't have any rocks to hide in. Perhaps they are too young to be aggressive?
Click to expand...

There are no "Starry night" Duboisis, they are just juveniles. Duboisis, to my knowledge: Karilani (white band), Kigoma, Maswa (yellow band).

Sorry, I don't mean to come across as an ass, but Tropheus are not "colony" fish. They live in colonies, but are not your average "colony tank" fish. To get the best out of them they should be kept with their own kind and in the large groups suggested.

One more, your frontosa will never get the long trademarked trailers with a Tropheus around. I am not blowing smoke here, aggressive or not-aggressive they will chew on those trailers.

Feeding, in your average "community" Tanganyikan tank, a Tropheus will end up overeating and he or she will end up with bloat. They are very good at dinner time and there's not very realistic to say you'll be able to control his or her food intake in a community environment where a Tropheus will pretty much outcompete the frontosa and the altolamprologines.

I think I better stop, sorry for not giving you the answer you might have wanted.
 
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