Looking for experiences, I just got a group of 6 and they are in a 135 with plenty of hiding spaces as i can already see they are tough on each other. Any specific foods work best? They seem to be hungry 24/7. I'd also like to get some dither endemic to Madagascar and do a whole theme tank. Thanks in advance.
Anyone keeping Paretropulus Lamena?
- Thread starter NorCaliCichlids
- Start date
This species is very tough onto con specifics and other fish- my recommendation is to get as many as you can, use dithers and separate the tank into several potential breeding spaces. Many fish work well as dithers from giant danios, astianax, rainbows, many cichlids that thrive on hard water such as thorichthys and closer to home ptychochromis. You could put a theme tank together with Paretroplus kieneri and pachypanchax- with sand and artificial plants. Good luck
I tried 6 in a 150 gal tank maybe 10+ years ago (maybe more, can't remember for sure).
At about 6" they systematically started killing each other off down to a pair that spawned, and then one killed the other.
I believe one of my problems, was that I didn't provide enough current.
Much like new world rheophillic centrals, without that force of nature burning off excess energy, they seem to burn it off by taking it out on each other.
Being rheophillic, they seem to need a strong enough current to make them work, so if I were to try them again, I'd use a 1200gph flow thru a 6ft tank.
Mine were before I had a real camera.
By the way, how'd those intermedia fry turn out?
At about 6" they systematically started killing each other off down to a pair that spawned, and then one killed the other.
I believe one of my problems, was that I didn't provide enough current.
Much like new world rheophillic centrals, without that force of nature burning off excess energy, they seem to burn it off by taking it out on each other.
Being rheophillic, they seem to need a strong enough current to make them work, so if I were to try them again, I'd use a 1200gph flow thru a 6ft tank.
Mine were before I had a real camera.
By the way, how'd those intermedia fry turn out?
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Ok, great info. I think I'll load up on rainbows for now. I'll also increase the flow in the tank. Rheophile cichlids are my thing so hopefully I have some luck. Any tips on food?
Mine ate anything I put in the tank, including thawed peas, small snails, and generic aquaculture pellets.
The pic above is the pair spawning in a flowerpot.
The alpha was so aggressive he would drive others to try and jump out of the tank, so after a while I tried putting each in different tanks, but because trying to get them to spawn was my aim, that really wasn't feasible.
Mine came in a group order from Exotics in FL, but even with a number of people on the order (I think a minimum order was 1K), my tab was over $300 for the 6 lamena. In the end a very expensive half dozen dead Madagascans.
The pic above is the pair spawning in a flowerpot.
The alpha was so aggressive he would drive others to try and jump out of the tank, so after a while I tried putting each in different tanks, but because trying to get them to spawn was my aim, that really wasn't feasible.
Mine came in a group order from Exotics in FL, but even with a number of people on the order (I think a minimum order was 1K), my tab was over $300 for the 6 lamena. In the end a very expensive half dozen dead Madagascans.
I got a GREAT deal on these, $20 each and they are a decent size compared to what you normally get that price so I jumped all over it. They aren't digging my pellets/flakes yet but they go crazy for frozen brine....not ideal but I'm working on alternatives. They already ate like 200 snails that were in the 135g. PIGS! Yes, they are rough on each other and they are swimming in a school yet constantly fighting in that school lol. There's tons of room yet they want to hang out an beat on each other instead.
$20 each is a great deal, I believe mine were $60 each, not including shipping.
That's interesting about the schooling, mine never did, maybe your current is better than I had.
And about the snails, I remember my tank was crawling with MTS, and within a day or so, they were nowhere to found.
I also remember there were other cichlids in the tank at the time (may have been tuba, that were just as hard on each other as the lamena), and the lamena totally ignored them, only picking on each other.
That's interesting about the schooling, mine never did, maybe your current is better than I had.
And about the snails, I remember my tank was crawling with MTS, and within a day or so, they were nowhere to found.
I also remember there were other cichlids in the tank at the time (may have been tuba, that were just as hard on each other as the lamena), and the lamena totally ignored them, only picking on each other.
Silver Dollars seem to working as they are semi aggressive and like to butt there heads into the 'school'. I plan on getting some rainbow type fish so we'll see how it goes.
So 3 Polleni and 5 Madagascan Rainbows later I am down to 4 lamena but things seemed to have stabilized for now. I added some bamboo plants, more driftwood, bunch of anubias and pots to hide in. Kind of a cool set up.