Looking for experiences with Cyprichromis leptosoma "Utinta"
- Thread starter coryjac0b
- Start date
coryjac0b;4915006; said:
Yes, no, sometimes.
That was going to be the thing that I mentioned. They can sometime be finicky eaters. I have had my group of leptosoma Utinta for 6 months now and I still have some fish that won't fatten up. They need very fine food (golden pearls, crumbled crumbles or similar) and do not consume much in one feeding.
They sometimes do not ship/travel well and will occasionally freak out and drop dead when netted out of the water. I highly encourage netting them under water and transferring them to a clear plastic container so that this doesn't happen. Do not try to strip them either. This may work for larger cyps, but I wouldn't risk it. The are pretty fragile and best allowed to spit fry in a breeder net.
This aside, they are cool fish that fill that upper water niche that few Tangs can fill for a 4' tank (minimum length).
They can be sensitive to water quality. Some would seem to die for no reason. I kept them in a species tank hard water malawi sand and temp at 79. They would do fine and had a few spawns. Then when I gave away some growouts to people they would die in a few days in their tanks. Chek out some of the furcifers they are a little more expensive but hardier in my opinion.
coryjac0b;4915006; said:
Completely Peaceful except when you have multiple males, mine never jumped, and the only time I had a finicky eater was the less dominant male. In my case they were really easy to take care of and the only time mine bred I actually did strip her. It wasn't that hard you just have to be delicate. With my Cyps I noticed that my shelldweller never used there shells and all of the other fish would be out. They are a great addition to a Tanganyika tank
a dominate male can run all others into hiding. I have striped without issue and know other breeders who have striped for a while know. I feed my NLS growth and they are nice and fat. I just stripe one a couple weeks ago, and have more holding again. I wait until the mouth is really full before I stripe.
Agreed, I stripped often. I started with 12 and within a few months had close to 30. No deaths. Some dominance issues. Fry come out surprisingly large. I kept mine with shell dwellers mostly. Fed them nls only. They ate ravenously. They were also F1s and some cool fish!
They are a great addition to a Tang tank because they bring out the shy fishes and fill the open areas with activity. Mine are always out in the open, and they help the calvus and comp's feel more comfortable and less shy. They are a schooling fish and prefer to be keep in groups...I've had success with having having 2-3 females for every one male. And I feed mine Omega one flakes which they crave.