Hemichromis Frempongi

[Omrit]

Seems like every fish I am taken with lately has almost no information on it. Before I move heaven and earth to get my hands on a group of these, I was curious if anyone had some more info on them.



So from what I understand these are pretty easy to keep and breed like most Hemichromis, reaches around 4-5 inches, and are less aggressive than some of the other 5 spot jewels? Is this accurate? Some places put the size more in the 7 inch range, but the videos I have seen of them don't seem to reflect that.


My interest was keeping them in a 75 gallon African themed tank with things like congo tetras. butterfly fish, or a small bichir species. I have done set-ups like this before with the Red jewels, but I was not sure about Frempongi. I would consider Elongatus instead if those fit what I am looking to do better.

 

[duanes]

They were first described in 1979 from 1 crater lake in Ghana, Lake Botsumtwi.and creeks surrounding it
Males can reach 10".
Although they are omnivorous they prefer to be predatory.
The aggression scale is high, which is not surprising since they are part of the H elongates clade.
Anything you've read about the 5 Star General group, can be applied to this species.
Because of their handsome and colorful looks, they became quite common in the Chicago/Milwaukee area @ 8-10 years ago, but I believe their innate aggression phased their popularity out fairly quickly.
If you were satisfied with keeping them in a large, single species tank, i.e. one compatible pair, (if you could get one) you were OK, but expecting to house them in any kind of community setting usually did not bode well.

 

[lunsforj]

Pretty much everything Duanes said. They are almost right in between fasciatus and elongatus as far as aggression, just have almost the size of fasciatus. They are a lot easier to pair than fasciatus (a nightmare) as well.

 

[Omrit]

They were first described in 1979 from 1 crater lake in Ghana, Lake Botsumtwi.and creeks surrounding it
Males can reach 10".
Although they are omnivorous they prefer to be predatory.
The aggression scale is high, which is not surprising since they are part of the H elongates clade.
Anything you've read about the 5 Star General group, can be applied to this species.
Because of their handsome and colorful looks, they became quite common in the Chicago/Milwaukee area @ 8-10 years ago, but I believe their innate aggression phased their popularity out fairly quickly.
If you were satisfied with keeping them in a large, single species tank, i.e. one compatible pair, (if you could get one) you were OK, but expecting to house them in any kind of community setting usually did not bode well.

Well I can't seem to find any for sale even if I did want them!


Out of curiosity how large does the female get?

 

[duanes]

The largest female I've seen was about 6"-7".

 

[lunsforj]

I had a nine inch male, and there isn't a ton of sexual dimorphism between the sexes of both fasciatus and frempongi, so I'd say 7 to 8 inches if given the right enviornment.

 

[Omrit]

this video is what really made me want to try them. Really all of his videos on them make them look so amazing.

Not sure I like them enough to just have a pair alone, but we shall see.

 

[major]

Does anyone knows where to get them at?

 

[newworld]

They were first described in 1979 from 1 crater lake in Ghana, Lake Botsumtwi.and creeks surrounding it
Males can reach 10".
Although they are omnivorous they prefer to be predatory.
The aggression scale is high, which is not surprising since they are part of the H elongates clade.
Anything you've read about the 5 Star General group, can be applied to this species.
Because of their handsome and colorful looks, they became quite common in the Chicago/Milwaukee area @ 8-10 years ago, but I believe their innate aggression phased their popularity out fairly quickly.
If you were satisfied with keeping them in a large, single species tank, i.e. one compatible pair, (if you could get one) you were OK, but expecting to house them in any kind of community setting usually did not bode well.

I do remember seeing elongatus in the Milwaukee area shops like 20 yrs ago, don’t remember seeing any of that group since…

 

[Mkrok71]

Can anyone get these currently