tropheus

howya lads, im thinking of changing to a tank full of tropheus, currently have about 30 mixed african cichlids in my tank so gotta figure out what to do with them first, but just looking for a bit of advice,types,do's and donts etc

thanks

jamie

Hi guys, tropheus are best kept in groups of 20/30 of the same species in a large tank.. however, i have had customers who have kept 20/30 of the very aggressive species in a 700L odd tank and were left with a few in a year or so!!! best to stick with duboisi or moori generally tend to be less agro.. keep away from the "reds" n "blacks" these tend to be more aggressive IMO. PH 8.0< and lots of rockwork to let them hide.. try to have hidey holes for less dom. fish. Feed a diet of veg based foods ideally the sea veggie type foods.. test water weekly as with all fish and try to keep No3 below 30.. anymore info just ask.. few of the big tropheus keepers on here.. im suprised none have commented on this post...

Cichlidguy wrote:

Hi thanks for the info I'm very surprized myself no one has gave there experiments on them ya I have bought 10 duboisi juvi and 6 of another species is it true that u can keep fontosas with them

If the fronts are juvies as well, they will be fine for a year or so,that's only if the fronts are the common "Burundi"variant.If they were Zaire blues they may be eaten after a few months as the fronts grow.My advice to anyone thinking of keeping Tropheus is to get "Metro/fish zole" medication FIRST before they get their fish,as they don't do STRESS very well.Tropheus don't like changes,try and keep everything the same,i.e W/Cs,diet,routine is the key for successful keeping and they will reward you with bundles of fry.The "Metro/fish zole" can be bought from Ebay in the states,cost €25 for a hundred tabs and takes 2 weeks for delivery.

I strongly recommend to soak your Spirulina or NLS in one tab of metro for 15 mins before feeding them for the first 2 weeks of getting them.Tropheus are ravenous eaters almost like Piranha,but on occasion there might be one or two that will not eat and hide away.When this happens,remove and treat immediately in a small separate tank and 98 times out of a hundred they will be eating again in 5-7 days.The reason they will stop eating is mainly down to stress,which is probably caused from a dominant male chasing.

If its left and not treated the fish will bloat and spread the disease to the rest of the tank.Ive being keeping numerous variants of Tropheus for 3 years now and this information is from experience.As Drew said above plenty of rock work and at least 20 starting off,they are probably the most active and exciting fish you will ever keep.If anyone wants more advice on keeping Tropheus successfully just send me a pm.Forgot to mention..The tank there going in ,must be fully cycled and running well for at least 3 mths,last advice..read as much about them as you can;)

Cheers Alan..

Some nice info there alan; I hate tropheus!!! they are about the only freshwater fishes that i see readily available and want to keep but cant get there!!! Im told even marines are easier...

All the best tho to you jamie.It will pay off handsomely if you succeed!

Hi Jamie,

Some good info in there. Seen Alans Tropheus setups and they would make you drool.
I am keeping Tropheus about 9 months now.
Lost a few when i started due to being stupid and forgetting to plug the heater back in after a waterchange.

I tried to mixed my tropheus with different fish but it didn't really work out when it came to feeding, territory and aggression.



My Tropheus are now in a tank on there own about 2 months and the difference is unreal and I have two holding too



Sorry about the quality. the recording is from my phone.

Pete