Upgrade planning - help me stock

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
magpie said:
Considered cichlids:
I really, really want a Paratilapia Polleni!

Heterospilus
Loisellei
Sajica
Chocolate
Green Terror
Severum

Opinions on these, which would most likely work best, which do you prefer as far as behavior and temperament, etc.

Thanks!
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I've had all of them besides the first 3. One thing to consider when getting a Paratilapia Polleni is that I've noticed they either come in black with green/blue spots and brown/darkbrown with white spots. The black one is DEFINITELY the one you want. One of my LFS had 4, 2 of each. One of them was full grown about 12-13 inches and fat and beautiful, he was black with green spots. The brown ones weren't nearly as pretty.

The Polleni's react a lot when you come up to them, kind of like Oscars. The guy at the LFS said he doesn't put his hand in the water, he showed me why and put his hand on top of the lid and the polleni jumped and hit the lid. Granted he was a FAT 13 inch monster of a polleni. Otherwise they are actually pretty mellow against other species, they are basically Oscars lol.

Chocolates are super nice, might get picked on by the Terror, maybe even the polleni...
 
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Wow thank you for all the info. I also prefer the blacker/darker of the 2 colors, I have 3 that really pop the darker they get. One of them has bright neon blue spangling, it looks really cool. I'm really hoping this works, however rehoming any of the fish isn't a problem, so it's worth a shot. I'm going to document everything from tomorrow on and hopefully it will expand the amount of info on polleni's. It's an unbelievable fish that doesn't have the wealth of info one would expect.
 
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Excited for you Vukmir13 Vukmir13 !

Can't wait to see updates. Love the red jewels too.

Thanks for the info Tahn Tahn - soaking up all the info I can get. I know there are different subtypes of the paratilapia, which have changed over time. I completely agree regarding the black - it's what drew me to the species. Love the black ones with blue / white spangles and the yellow, long pupiled eye the best. :)
 
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Tahn said:
I've had all of them besides the first 3. One thing to consider when getting a Paratilapia Polleni is that I've noticed they either come in black with green/blue spots and brown/darkbrown with white spots. The black one is DEFINITELY the one you want. One of my LFS had 4, 2 of each. One of them was full grown about 12-13 inches and fat and beautiful, he was black with green spots. The brown ones weren't nearly as pretty.

The Polleni's react a lot when you come up to them, kind of like Oscars. The guy at the LFS said he doesn't put his hand in the water, he showed me why and put his hand on top of the lid and the polleni jumped and hit the lid. Granted he was a FAT 13 inch monster of a polleni. Otherwise they are actually pretty mellow against other species, they are basically Oscars lol.

Chocolates are super nice, might get picked on by the Terror, maybe even the polleni...
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, it's not two different types of Polleni when referring to black ones and brown ones. They change their color depending on mood, stress and hierarchy among other things but are the same genus of fish. Not unlike male Malawi Peacocks. Their are many variations of Polleni but many of them are in regards to the size of their spots and other aesthetic things, not including color.
 
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Vukmir13 said:
kewpiefishypewpie kewpiefishypewpie thank you for all the great info and experience. Did you notice the polleni to be much more aggressive as they come into adulthood or is not a very big difference than a juvi? Thanks again
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They can get aggressive as adults, it's kind of a crap shoot. You can hope for them to continue to tolerate their tank mates as they get older.
 
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From what I've read, your best bet to keep them as a solo fish is to raise them with others as little guys and not have other black fish. But yeah, they're cichlids so you'll never know.

For people here who have done grow outs to pick adults and then rehomed the other fish - when they are small in a group dynamic, can you tell with any predictability what adult behaviors will be like? For example, if you keep the most dominant fish, is it more likely to be a dominant solo fish, or if you pick a submissive fish, is it more likely to be that way as an adult? Or is it a total crap shoot. You know, like with puppies - you can't fully determine their adult personalities but certain things show even when little nuggets, including submissiveness/dominance tendencies. (To a point, again you never know what sexual maturity will bring.)
 
Imo 50/50
Had fish that were clamer when small and turned charlie manson later and vice versa...or just stayed the way they were calm/nasty
 
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From kewpiefishypewpie kewpiefishypewpie 's recommendation - Davesfish.com he has photos of 2 of the types that he has now -

Marolambo, which is the look I really like
http://www.davesfish.com/images/Paratilapia sp Marolambo 2.jpg

And Andapa, which are also beautiful I just prefer the other look
http://www.davesfish.com/images/Paratilapia typus Andapa.jpg

They used to talk about Polleni and Bleekeri, and they stopped that at some point...
 
I find the Fony to be very striking, got one from Dave several months ago:

Paratilapia%20sp%20Fony.jpg
 
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