Thinking about adding some cyprichromis "black bee"

[junglej]

A good friend of mine recently made me an offer i really cannot refuse. I will be getting a group of 15 - 20 at breeding age. I am wondering if I could add them to my 75g? I will have 2 black calvus and 8-10 L. werneri in with them. The werneri are cave dwellers, as well as the calvus - so I was thinking they should be alright, being more of a topwater fish?
I am also a bit concerned about filtration with that many fish. I have a Fluval 404 with various media for filtration and a powerhead to keep the water moving. I also do a minimum of weekly 50% water changes, but often times it is twice a week.
Just wondering what you all think?

 

[junglej]

Anyone???

 

[junglej]

I'm picking them up tonight, so any immediate help would be appreciated.

 

[Marius]

Sorry for the delay, they should be fine, especially if they are breeding age.

I am not sure how large are your Calvus, but if they bother them, or steal too many eggs at spawning, then I suggest you move the Calvus into a different setup.

Otherwise, good luck with them. Post some pictures.

 

[junglej]

One of the calvus is massive, reaching almost 6 in. The other is around 3 in. The Werneri are all 3 in. or less and are a bit torpedo shaped. I'm hoping to convince my wife to let me set up a 55 in the bedroom, and that would be where the calvus would go. So you don't think i'll have issues w/filtration? I will definitely be posting pics asap.thanx marius

 

[Marius]

The Calvus, even at that size, would fair well in a 33gal for themselves.

 

[junglej]

Just picked 'em up. 1 big male, 2 big females, 15 juvies. Both females were holding, but one spat the fry. I put them in a net breeder, but they still have large yolk sacks. I'll post picks when they settle down. The calvus are my favorites, so I want to watch them in a decent size tank.

My buddy had a group of Kilsea's and a female was holding, so he showed me how to strip the females and I'm quite confident that I can perform this on the Cyps. I'll just have to watch when the females are holding.

 

[Marius]

Just picked 'em up. 1 big male, 2 big females, 15 juvies. Both females were holding, but one spat the fry. I put them in a net breeder, but they still have large yolk sacks. I'll post picks when they settle down. The calvus are my favorites, so I want to watch them in a decent size tank.

My buddy had a group of Kilsea's and a female was holding, so he showed me how to strip the females and I'm quite confident that I can perform this on the Cyps. I'll just have to watch when the females are holding.

Get yourself one of these
http://www.cichlidlovers.com/flusher.htm

Makes life so much easier...

 

[mike dunagan]

Be careful with the cyps. Their jaws are like tiny glass jaws. Many people have broken jaws of these fish trying to strip.

 

[junglej]

The way my buddy showed me, I just catch her, put her in a net breeder, and just rub her body a bit, til she spits. Is this correct? As soon as i netted one of the females, she spit, so this should work and would be less stressful than grabbing her jaw. Can I do this?