Henri

Hi, I've had most Tanganyika lake lamprologini and to me there are not many choice : shell dwellers (preferably brevis, else multifasciatus/similis) or Julidochromis transcriptus which is fairly small don't need a lot of room, and is fantastic to watch breed ! Lelupi are extremely agressive when they are well and I would not recommand below 4 ft, if yellow means Labidochromis caeruleus they like to swim a lot so no good either. In last ressource, brichardi and pulcher can do it, but they will invade you small tank extremely fast and are a it too big (the good point with transcriptus is that thye fry grows super slowly so your small tank won't be over populated in 3 months)

They are increadibly common here, that would be surprising you could not find a few ! They are regularly imported and breed so readily that aquarist give them out for nothing. The real fun part is that in 200L you can have within 18 monthsa colony of 30 adults (and give many offspring because obviously they are expanding fast).

Something funny you can do (I once did so) : find a few multifasciatus or similis (5 to 10), put a HUGE number of shells and watch the community grow. Just fascinating. Occelatus are territorial, so your tank will look empty while multifasciatus live in colony. Ideally you need to have a complete layer of shells on the soil of the tank. (in France we are eating snails to I just have to ask my brother to keep me the shells when he "catch" some )

Thanks all, Here only vertebrates are a problem to import, for others as long as the is no CITES, there is nothing. In France everybody receives insect through the post! Velvet worms are not really “pets†but are not hard to keep as long as basic requirements are met: - Cold (13 to 15 Celcius) - Moist (but no condensation because they could drawn, at least the smallest) - Big preys compared to what we might imagine (a 4 cm worm will eat a 1 cm cricket) - A bit of cork and of moss to hide and walk around. - Regular cleaning. Is there some specific species of velvet worms which are protected or do simply some regions protect them?

Thanks, Those I have are Peripatoides novaezelandiae or at least very near: same orange spots and same number of legs. I have a refrigerated facility for them and they are doing very well (I have 6). I would love to be able to get some other species of Peripatoides from New Zealand or Australia (Caribeans, I will go myself, Africa also, maybe) . You don't know how lucky you have to have an interresting fauna and flora in your country. In UK there is close to nothing (except squirels with are quite familiar) and in France, it's not great either (even it still way better). This website is very interresting: http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/resea ... xonomy.asp These for you: http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/resea ... cation.asp http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/resea ... plenty.asp http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/resea ... mandel.asp

Hi All, I’m a French (used to live in Paris, now expatriated in London, UK) aquarium, reptile, amphibian and invert hobbyist and I have quite a lot of critters… including some velvet worms from New Zealand that are doing pretty well! I’m here to chat and maybe exchange some animals like your local critters (like velvet worms, weta, walking sticks) against mine (like Cetonia aurata, French walking sticks or others). I’m indeed very interested in having different sorts of velvet worms from all over the world (going to Trinidad in a few month to bring back some).