Benthochromis horii as dithers for Frontosa tank

[ken31cay]

Question for my fellow Tanganyikan fish keepers:

My supplier told me today that she just got in some wild caught Benthochromis horii and recommends around 10-15 of them for dithers in my 10 foot Frontosa tank.

I'm told they are very similar to the more commonly known Benthochromis tricoti.

Anybody have an experience with these as dithers and/or have any thoughts on how they might do in my Frontosa tank? I currently have just the 24 Moba Frontosa alone in the 750 gallon ten foot tank.

 

[Milingu]

I'm told they are very similar to the more commonly known Benthochromis tricoti.

Benthochromis tricoti is an "offshore" species and has never been kept in an aquarium. The males look different from males of B. horii. The fish we kept had all been misidentified as B. tricoti, but were all horii.

I know people who keep them successfully with Cyphotilapia. But I can't tell if they have any dither effect.

 

[ken31cay]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm reading some accounts of them being quite skittish, which is the last thing I need more of in that tank as my Moba have remained quite shy up to now.

 

[dogofwar]

I'd think that the fronts would eat them (or try).

 

[ken31cay]

I'd think that the fronts would eat them (or try).

Supplier said they're currently 5"-6+".

 

[phreeflow]

Agree…horii are misidentified as tricoti. Fronts snack on cyprichromis in the wild…both regular and jumbo size. The benthochromis have a similar shape and don’t get much bigger than jumbo cyprichromis. I’d be worried they become a very expensive snack

 

[ken31cay]

My supplier said they are far from skittish and sent me a video last night of them in her 90 gallon which appears to agree with that. She said they now come to meet her at the front of the tank for feedings.

My Moba are now 5"-8" so if I decide to get these Bethochromis I should have some time before they become prey and I can always move them to my 8 foot tank before that time.

 

[neutrino]

I was a mod/admin on cyphos.com for years until the owner quit paying the bills and let it go defunct. Those keeping Benthochromis often kept them with Cyphotilapia, most often with moba or other gibberosa, and their experience and consensus was they made good tankmates-- you can search this combination of youtube and find several examples of this. Other consensus points were to keep tight tank lids because they jump when spooked (same as Cyphotilapia), they're a schooling fish and happier in groups, and they get large (males over 8 inches, up to 10 or so) and need large tanks due to their size and active swimming habits. They were a wish-list fish for me, but I didn't get around to keeping them before I returned to my former interest in South American cichlids.

For what it's worth and as mentioned above, the consensus is what used to be called tricoti in the hobby is horii and, according to Ad Konings and some others, tricoti are rare in the hobby-- I've seen contradictory information on the color differences between them, probably because the fish were confused for years. The scientific description mentions differences in mouth position, eye size, dorsal ray count, etc.

 

[ken31cay]

I was a mod/admin on cyphos.com for years until the owner quit paying the bills and let it go defunct. Those keeping Benthochromis often kept them with Cyphotilapia, most often with moba or other gibberosa, and their experience and consensus was they made good tankmates-- you can search this combination of youtube and find several examples of this. Other consensus points were to keep tight tank lids because they jump when spooked (same as Cyphotilapia), they're a schooling fish and happier in groups, and they get large (males over 8 inches, up to 10 or so) and need large tanks due to their size and active swimming habits. They were a wish-list fish for me, but I didn't get around to keeping them before I returned to my former interest in South American cichlids.

For what it's worth and as mentioned above, the consensus is what used to be called tricoti in the hobby is horii and, according to Ad Konings and some others, tricoti are rare in the hobby-- I've seen contradictory information on the color differences between them, probably because the fish were confused for years. The scientific description mentions differences in mouth position, eye size, dorsal ray count, etc.

This certainly helps, thanks for posting this neutrino. I plan on getting 15 of them.

 

[jjohnwm]

Okay, I have a question; please bear in mind that I freely admit I know diddly-squat about African rift-lake cichlids...and, for that matter, the rift lakes.

Why do we see so few fish aside from cichlids coming into the hobby from the rift lakes? A quick Google search indicates that each of the big lakes hosts at least one species of pelagic Cyprinid or Characin or similar small fish, that serve as forage fish for the big predatory cichlids...yet I don't recall ever seeing anything like that offered for sale. Why not? I would think that such a species of small rift-lake "minnows" would be very popular among rift-lake enthusiasts. I'm talking about small pelagic schooling fish near the bottom of the food chain; in fishing parlance, "bait minnows". If there are such species in the rift lakes, they would likely be a popular dither for African rift biotope tanks and we'd see them offered for sale, but I don't think we do?

It can't be because these fish are too plain; true purists go ga-ga for biotopic correctness, and wouldn't be put off by lack of colour or simple body forms. These tanks are all about the cichlids, and rift-lake dithers would just be there as window-dressing, to add some activity and to bring the shrinking violets like the Mobas in ken31cay 's tanks out of their shells, so to speak.

It seems we are always seeing "new" cichlids coming out of the rift lakes, so obviously there is collecting going on there. Are the collectors simply not seeing the value in non-cichlids? And, yes, I know we see Syndodontis cats and some spiny eels and a few others, but those are all "specialty" fish. We need African rift-lake "minnows".