Josh_S Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 Ok all, Im after some help stocking my 800L with more fish. Ive had 10 shellies in for the last month cycling so am ready to add the main bulk of the stocking. Ideally I want shellies, julies, altos(maybe) and lots of tropheus. I think i will be adding two types of tropheus, Duboisi and maybe bulu point or firefox. Depending on what i can get my hands on. My first question is, how many tropheus will be ok in there? I take it they are like malawis and need lots of same species to spread aggression. Will 20 fish of each type be ok? do i need more/less? I will be buying them as fry and growing them out / thinning out males. If anyone out there has any tropheus fry please let me know. Cheers, Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 Sounds like a good plan Altos aren't supposed to be that good with the shellies the altos are supposed to get big enough to eat the shellies.. I can't see it being an issue with the altos I have at the moment and I think Smidey has them together with no issues.. Plus I don't know if you would source any altos anyway they all seem to be being snapped up and kept quiet.. Tropheus would be awesome, and go well with the other 2 suggested. Dubs are a good choice they are nice looking and cheap enough to get a good colony going. I would probably go with pemba or firefox, the bulus are pretty agro and would probably dominate the dubs pretty easily and also (IMO of course) the bulus are nowhere near as colourful, it really depends on what you like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh_S Posted March 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 Cheers Ryan. Very helpful as always Any ideas on suitable size numbers for troph colonies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 As many as you can afford lol Some recommend 12 min but I reckon because you have a big enough tank and if you can afford it then go with 20+ of each type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcculloch Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 I think if you get the altos to a big enough size to eat the shellie's your doing real well. I've had mine together for age's now no problems at all. Has anyone try'd tropheus with the shellies just wondering? Lelupi are another one to think about I know people recommend not putting them with shellies mine have been together in a smaller tank than that with no aggression for 3 generations of lelupi now in a 800 litre you could get away with a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 A mate of mine has a massive male calvus (he is hunting for a female if anyone has one spare or sees one, was too slow to get any from HFF this time even though he messaged straight away) that would easily eat an adult female shellie for breakfast and then the male for lunch. He is a monster though and quite an old fish, and the comps stay smaller so should be ok. I wonder if the leleupi/shellie thing is a myth it seems to be on a few places on the net but I wonder if it is a one off occurrence or if it has happened quite often? I guess only time will tell as there are a few keeping them together now.. I have dubs with shellies and they are sweet shellies have their shells and the dubs have the rest of the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcculloch Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 That's my point if I got my Comps to a size were it ate one of my shellies I would be stoked (although sad about the shellie) as I had achieved the years of growing them to get there . Oh and I think go firefox such an awesome fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 Yeah I agree they grow so slowly seeing a monster is an achievement and taken alot of time and care.. Comps are a smaller species than calvus anyway even the 7-8yr old gold heads I have seen have been around just over half the size of his calvus he is a monster, just such a shame that there is no girls around for him Firefox are awesome The only one I haven't got yet apart from those carambas which I am not interested in anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcculloch Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 We need some Neolamprologus brevis in the country there on the list they get a little bit bigger than Lamprologus ocellatus and I've seen them in mixed tanks over seas no problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh_S Posted March 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 We need some Neolamprologus brevis in the country there on the list they get a little bit bigger than Lamprologus ocellatus and I've seen them in mixed tanks over seas no problem. Sadly the selection of tangs in NZ is very limited. Hopefully this will change as they continue to grow in popularity and availability. There are so many sweet looking tangs out there readily available in Oz that never make it as far as us. On this note im after 20+ Duboisi (any size considered). Will post in trade section too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 Yeah it is a shame.. I have been requesting brevis for a while now, but pretty stocked we got the occies we did get they are one of the best ones out there. The major problem is we have had brevis even tang flashers (plus all sorts of other cool stuff) in the country but people don't get them and breed the crap out of them and spread them so they die out and never get imported again so we loose them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 what are the dims of the tank? in 400L i have 30 ish trophs, pembas & duboisi. this could be increased due to the shape of my tank, it's nearly 7 foot so there is plenty of floor space for them to create territories. I have altos & my shellies are almost fully grown i think so i could try them in there soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh_S Posted March 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 what are the dims of the tank? in 400L i have 30 ish trophs, pembas & duboisi. this could be increased due to the shape of my tank, it's nearly 7 foot so there is plenty of floor space for them to create territories. I have altos & my shellies are almost fully grown i think so i could try them in there soon. It was 700x700x1800 but my background takes up a bit of room, it might be 750L when taking that into account. So im safe to fill it up with at least 40 - 50 trophs then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 possibly, i would start with 30 to 35 & see how that is. i think you may find 50 is achievable but it will be better to start off with a smaller number & work up particularly if you start with juvies. that tank will easily handle 60 juvies but as adults they may be too large, doing this will mean you can weed out numbers to get good male & female ratios. also keep in mind they won't be easy to catch in a tank of that size, i recommend a divider/s of some sort to reduce the area to catch them in. what are you having as filtration, plenty of that will be needed for these numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh_S Posted March 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 Filtration is a sump i had made, i had no experience with sumps but it seems to be doing the trick so far. Using filter wool, bio balls (wet & dry) then coral bits & bio noodles then a whole lot of scourer pads. Ill start by adding my dubs first i think (20-25). then may add the second variety in a month or two. Cheers for all the replies, and offers of trophs. It will be so sweet to finally get this bad boy filled with livestock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh_S Posted March 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 Just added 22 Dubs to the mix (thanks Coral). The shellies weren't too impressed but they will get over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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