dyinggoldfish Posted May 18, 2010 Report Share Posted May 18, 2010 Hey There is one fish I can never seem to keep alive for more than a fortnight. It is the Juliochromis transcriptus also known as the masked Julie cichlid. My problem before i think was my pH was too high, although i never tested it. But I assume it was this because I just had the basics in my tank.... and my partner didnt like the idea of real plants therefore the natural softner of water and pH was never added. Since then my tank has been spruced up (while he was on holiday so he didnt get a say). And I have a mixture of swords and other plants in my tank. Although my barbs thinks its fun to kill my cabomba and tiger lotus whenever i plant it. Seeing my Black Neon tetras are starting to breed, I would say I finally got the pH to about 7.5 (once again i havent tested this yet). As well as enough plants to hide in. Although more would be nice? Now i really want to try and give these guys another go. And i have created lots of hiding holes and plants, and i have researched that they like about 8.5pH.... but i dont want to kill my other fish in the process. ps: partner has grudgingly agreed for me to get a 600-800L tank but i have to save for that... but oooo will that be cool! then i am turning the other into a marine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firenzenz Posted May 18, 2010 Report Share Posted May 18, 2010 I'd be less worried about the Ph levels as I would about the other basic requirements to get 'Julies' breeding. What size is the tank you have now. What is substrate- julies prefer sand as sifting it is part of their natural feeding process. You mention plants for hiding- what about rockwork? Julies need plenty of rockwork. Terracotta pots are a favourite for breeders. Make a little pile in the back or corner of tank. They are also very aggressive toward each other. How many did you keep. Was it a pair? Buying a small group and developing a pair from there is probably the best way to get breeders. They form pairs and don't appreciate visitors Adult males once they have a female will happily kill off other males, and females. This is an article for Julidochromis marlieri but would the same would apply for transcriptus. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/j_marlieri.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyinggoldfish Posted May 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2010 What size is the tank you have now. What is substrate- julies prefer sand as sifting it is part of their natural feeding process. You mention plants for hiding- what about rockwork? Julies need plenty of rockwork. Terracotta pots are a favourite for breeders. Make a little pile in the back or corner of tank. I am not really interested in breeding them yet. Just keeping them alive. The tank is 120L although i will be upgrading when i have saved enough. There is plenty of rocks in my tank and plants. The substrate is larger bits of gravel. (new tank i am hoping to do some form of sand). The ones i have previously tried to raise I got sets of 2, then sets of 4 (gone through about 8 in total). I tried to get them to pair up... The ones i am looking at now are a adult breeding pair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted May 18, 2010 Report Share Posted May 18, 2010 I have found the Maleri (very similar fish) to be very hardy the only issues I have had are with aggression between adults or within a pair (female is very aggressive to male) but have my pair in a 2ft tank now and they are fine. They can be sensitive to water quality so making sure you don't overfeed and keeping up with regular water changes helps apart from that I don't know what you could be doing wrong to kill them. They don't need a PH at 8.5, 7.5 will be fine and certainly wont kill them, I sold some to a guy who kept his in mildy soft water with a neutral ph and they still grew up and bred fine.. I would be cautious about buying an adult pair, jullies are known for packing spats between pairs when you move them obviously there are ways to do it but at first I would add them to a tank with other robust cichlids so they have some fish to pick on together rather than turning on each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyinggoldfish Posted May 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2010 I would be cautious about buying an adult pair, jullies are known for packing spats between pairs when you move them obviously there are ways to do it but at first I would add them to a tank with other robust cichlids so they have some fish to pick on together rather than turning on each other. I dont really have a cichlid tank to put them in. Transcriptus are "peaceful" versions of cichlids, and can go with pretty much anything. Which is why i am putting them in my community tank. I haven't heard of them going all domestically violent on each other??? but if thats true I might have to ask the woman I am getting them off how she coped as they have been moved 3 times previously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted May 19, 2010 Report Share Posted May 19, 2010 Oh cool good to know, I probably wouldn't recommend them for community tanks at all really.. But that is just me and I have found mine to be aggressive. I mean not that much compared to other africans but still more aggressive than what I would put in a community tank. Even profiles on the net regard them as aggressive http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1536, but I guess it might work.. http://reviews.ebay.com/Julidochromis-G ... 0004073350 I did some reading up on them when I looked at them and the pair can fight when moved but I guess that depends on the pair and how well they get along etc.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firenzenz Posted May 19, 2010 Report Share Posted May 19, 2010 I have had experience of both Neolamprologus pulcher and leleupi as Adult pairs almost ripping each other to bits when i removed them from a breeding tank and back to a community situation. they are also lake tanganyikan cichlid of similar temperament to the julies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted May 19, 2010 Report Share Posted May 19, 2010 there is a guy that breeds them up here, every time he supplies them to the LFs they all die off over a period of time. it's usually 3 or 4 days between each dieing, this has happened 3 times now & the last batch was about 12 fish. maybe there is a transcriptus disease like the neon disease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyinggoldfish Posted May 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2010 Just went to get my Transcriptus and they had already been sold Really gutted! Ah well makes me save for my tank instead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted May 20, 2010 Report Share Posted May 20, 2010 Just went to get my Transcriptus and they had already been sold Really gutted! Ah well makes me save for my tank instead this might not be to accurate they are reasonably common so i am sure you may not have too much trouble getting some when you want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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