camtang Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 For the people that have these or have had these, what other fish have you felt safe keeping them with? I am umming and ahhhing about putting mine into my mixed cichlid tank. The main worry is the aggression of the male brown hap and male tropheops. The comps and calvus will be in the mid range of size so I dont think that them being eaten is a concern, that and my shellies have been fine in there for months now. Feeding will not change from NLS from tank to tank, and if anything the new tank will have better filtrtion and water paramaters for them. I will also be adding more shells to the tank for more hiding places, and less territory issues. Any thoughts please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 i keep mine with tropheus, shellies and leleupi & they get along fine. When the much larger trophs try to have a go at them they simply curve their body which extends their sharp scales for protection so don't get hurt. Adding shells i don't think will do a lot for the altos except give them somewhere to spawn because i rarely see mine in the shells although that may just be down to the fact they are comfortable in their surroundings in my tank. They do occasionally take cover in the shell when i am trying to net a fish so may be a useful option and can't hurt unless they somehow get stuck but the shell will need to be large enough. I don't do anything special for them, i only feed NLS and filtration is around 6 times the tank volume per hour. what size are yours? are you going to mix both comps and calvus in the same tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted March 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 I have seen them twist there body when they attack each other, I think its a super cool defense system. Mine dont use the current shells either, but there is a heap of hiding spots and the fish in with them are all the same size roughly so that may be the comfort thing again. Comps are roughly 80mm and calvus 65mm Yes they will be in the same tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 80m? wow that is a good sized alto. not sure having them in the same tank is a great idea, i remember reading something ages ago about it not being a good idea other than the cross breeding situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted March 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 There is 2 M's on that one smidey :rotf: Do you remember why other than the breeding issue? Currently they are in together with no issues and I was planning on keping them in with the front in a few years time when they get big enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 yeah, 80mm (8cm) is a massive alto, they only grow to 10 to 12cm don't they? Nah i don't remember, just remember not to mix them. They are easily big enough now to be housed with fronts i think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcon021 Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 Apart from the cross breeding issue only one male will colour up properly if you have them both in the same tank. I don't like to house more than one male in a 4ft tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted March 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 I am not to worried about the cross breeding issue as currently I have no interest in breeding them, not until I get my room built at least, and when that happens I may buy some more.I still think that they are pretty small compared to the fronts, I wanted to give them another 6-12 months groth before putting them in with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted March 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 yeah, 80mm (8cm) is a massive alto, they only grow to 10 to 12cm don't they? have heard that and also heard, biger. conflicting info huh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1578 this says 12cm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted March 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 Length sounds about rite sorry, I was reffering to height and bulk of it. To be safe I want mine to have a bit more bulk on them. http://forums.eastcoastcichlids.org/sho ... hp?t=14696 I have had a heap of dem fry in with my fronts and expected them to be eaten, but 18 went in the tank and 18 came out so that is promising. I think if they are feed well they dont tand to munch fish, but you still cant remove instinct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nudge Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 that would be a nice lookin tank. Fronts , calvus and comps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted March 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 Throw in a few leleupi and a few catfish and I hope its all of my Tanganyika dreams come true. I now feel like I need to test my guesstimite from the other day on the size of the comps. I am still very much considering putting them in the mixed tank for a few months over easter, so if I do I will measure them when they are out of the water and see how close I was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nudge Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 can ya post up some pics to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 the altos don't do much so don't really feature much in the tank i have found. They behave a lot like discus, just sort of hover around watching the world go by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted March 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 can ya post up some pics to There is some of the current look and stock on this thread viewtopic.php?f=4&t=62583 I will add more once it is completed the altos don't do much so don't really feature much in the tank i have found. They behave a lot like discus, just sort of hover around watching the world go by. Thats what I am wanting to achive a calm, low movement tank. with just a bit of fire from the lele's. The other display tank is the lounge is full of activity all day long so I get that kick from that tank. Back to the origianl question and thought, if altos can handle the aggression and activity of tropheus then they should be ok with the Mbuna I mentioned before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 IME the aggression of tropheus is different to the aggression of mbuna. basically, the trophs generally only want to fight other trophs of the same species and occasionally another troph species. Mbuna i found are like the angry dude at the pub, want to fight anyone. Due to the altos armoured scales i think they would be fine with mbuna generally, they may get tatty fins but i doubt they would sustain serious wounds. I would mix them but if it went pair shaped i would also accept it was my risk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 :smot: sorry Cam but wow just looking through trademe and seen petfevers listings, have to say I was not impressed with their pricing! So over priced I feel sorry for you guys from Nelson if that's the type of prices you have to pay up there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted March 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 Due to the altos armoured scales i think they would be fine with mbuna generally, they may get tatty fins but i doubt they would sustain serious wounds. I would mix them but if it went pair shaped i would also accept it was my risk. Sweeet, I am hearing you. I mite transfer them over during the easter break but keep that tank running for a few incase it goes downhill fast. if it goes well for a few weeks I will just treat them like any other fish that gets its scrap on. :smot: sorry Cam but wow just looking through trademe and seen petfevers listings, have to say I was not impressed with their pricing! So over priced I feel sorry for you guys from Nelson if that's the type of prices you have to pay up there! Worse thing is that all of the shops are the same here. Not only that but the knowledge they have is minimum in many areas. I also have issues with blatently being lied to, and not putting up pics of the actual fish for sale on trademe, especialy from a petshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nudge Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 Nice pics but i kinda wanna see pics of the altos and comps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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