Dimidochromis Compressiceps Experience

[harty]

Lot of misinformation on this thread.

I've kept them at various sizes, alone in an all-male tank and in a group. One of the less aggressive and demanding Malawi haps I've ever kept. Compared to any Nimbochromis or something like a Aristochromis, they are puppy dogs. Shoot, your average dominant male peacock is more aggressive than these guys.

In terms of conspecific aggression, any dominant male fish is a danger to a second male of his type or a single female (that is why we keep female-heavy groups).

They do not bite eyes either.

They won't swim a whole lot as they inhabit grass beds in the lake and tend to stay still, looking for an ambush opportunity. Most often, they will hang in the top corners of the tank and keep to themselves.

that's encouraging to say the least. they didn't strike me as something that would get overly aggressive. as a top predator, why would they need to be?

 

[Mokujin22]

that's encouraging to say the least. they didn't strike me as something that would get overly aggressive. as a top predator, why would they need to be?

Well, in terms of "top predators" and their aggression levels, they're more the exception than the rule. Aristos, buccos, tyrannos, nimbos..... all some pretty rude fish.

 

[harty]

i see. well, i believe a dom male has been established with my group. he was chasing the crap out of the other two last night, one much more so than the other. also saw him 'displaying' to the third, as wantokeeptrout described. has me suspecting 2 males and a female.

these are the first 'hap' i've kept. i'll likely be looking to re-home one or both of the ones being harrassed. i'm more than happy to just keep the one male. got a buddy with a 100 gal malawi tank i'm sure would take the second male at least.

thanks to all for the info!

 

[spyke]

Yeah, I'm with mokujin...I've had my pair for close to 3 years now and they aren't very aggressive. reletively speaking. I have a female venustus who is more of a murderer than my dimidiochromis is...she is 3 for 3 in killing every male i have ever put in there with her.. and she has plenty of room in my 120, but always seems to kill them. I soon will be adding a large champsochromis to the tank and then we'll see how aggressive he gets.

 

[wantokeeptrout]

reviving this thread with an update, my D.comps are doing very well.m My dom male is approx 4.5 inches with the others around 3.5 inces asid eform one 2.5 inch runt that is holding it's own, minimal damage and eating just as much as th others. The blue dolphins I got really helped with the aggression form the male, though at 1.75 inches the biggest dolphin has become second in command after the male comp.

heres a pic of my dominant male, I missed a full yawn shot since he started halfway through the shooting, but I have to say he has coloured up nicely.

 

[Rome]

My d comp in my largely peacock tank is a big D***. Been set up for about a month and hes about 4 inch long now, and spends his day attacking all 8 of the other fish. I have a ton of rocks which keep him away from the smaller peacocks, the 2nd largest fish being about 2-2.5 inches. He will not mess with the yellow lab at all tho which is strange.

Ive been thinking about getting rid of him because he is so much bigger before he kills any of my fish.