Lake Tanganyika Species • Julidochromis transcriptus and muilts

[camelworm]

so this is what im thinking i wana set up a 29g tank with a colony of shellys on one side then on the other a pile of slate and limestone rocks on the other then mabey plants or something as a kind of sight block.

Any ideas on this or suggestions are much appreciated and if someone has done this or something similar any pictures of your set ups would be amazing too.

[Shaky]

Lots of folks have done this (not me).
FYI- the word is: the Gombi transcriptus are supposedly far more aggressive than other trans localities, and require a species tank.

PS- please correct me if this is mistaken info

[triscuit]

Sound like a good plan. Either J. transcriptus or J. ornatus would work. Both species will dig, so tie your plants down. It'll be more important to leave open space between the territories than breaking line of sight. Pile the shells for the multies, leave 8" of open sand, then start building up the julies' territory.

There's some debate about the julies from Gombe... They're considered to be more closely related to marlieri, not transcriptus.

[camelworm]

Thanks for all the help, would it be too much to consider one calvus in there with the julies and mulites

[Shaky]

A calvus would probably eat baby multies, although that may be a good thing after a while.

[SandBagger]

I have the Julie gombe species in my 55g. The dominant male considers all rock piles his and will not allow the other male much room to maneuver with the exception of one little spot on the backside of one of the piles. The dominant male has paired up with 2 different females in the tank and seems to be aggressive toward the third. He seems to allow other species to hold certain locations in the rock piles, for the most part. The females patrol their "nest" areas closely and are intolerant of everything but the dominant male, including their own fry from the previous....thusly dethroned dominant male.

My guess is, with the set up you are describing you will be fine with one pair of julie gombe. The male will likely only be interested in the rock pile while the female will rarely leave the nest are.

I've had calvus for almost 2 years and have yet to see one eat fry. I'm guessing that will start soon as they grow into adults. On multiple occasions I have seen my largest most dominant calvus seemingly "plot" on fry, but have yet to see him take one. Point is, if you are going with juvies, it might be some time before they start to prey on fry. My opinion would be not to add the calvus. I don't think a single calvus will add much, if anything to the set up.

[Shaky]

Great info. My adult calvus has certainly eaten small live food (worms and mosquito larvae), but hasn't yet had a chance with fry.
Are your Gombes larger than other transcriptus?

[24Tropheus]

Great info. My adult calvus has certainly eaten small live food (worms and mosquito larvae), but hasn't yet had a chance with fry.
Are your Gombes larger than other transcriptus?

Gombe are not a transcriptus IMO. But they are about the same size as most transcriptus variants (some of these are larger than others). They display some typical marlieri features such as female being far far larger than the male and mouth shape.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1537

SandBagger are you confusing large size and being dominant in the pair and aggression, with being male?

[triscuit]

SandBagger are you confusing large size and being dominant in the pair and aggression, with being male?

I wondered the same thing... IME, extra males were tolerated, and my female transcriptus and marlieri ruled the tank. And until they are at least 3 years old, I have found size to be irrelevant for sexing julies.

Either way, a single calvus would add stress to an already full tank. I have had calvus start hunting fry when they were not much more than fry themselves. As is, the julies will provide enough predatory pressure for the multies.

[SandBagger]

hmmm, you know......I didn't think, until this point anyway, that I was confusing it. But it looks like I am. I thought I read, here on the site that with these julies, the males were larger......but I just saw a post of yours 24trph from a while ago, that said the females are larger. Ain't that a kick in the pants!!! Honestly can't believe I got that particular detail switched. My males are females and my females are males! This will shine a new light on my next few nights of tank observation for sure. These are just shy of 3 years old, but the largest 2 are at least twice as big as the 3 males.

To the OP....Every place where I said "male(s)", switch it with "female(s)" and vice versa on my previous post.

Thanks for pointing out my mistake guys. I appreciate it!

[camelworm]

So to go back to the original question how many of each should go in and any other tips for this are great too

[Darkskies]

I would say you should start with six each of your shelldweller and julie species. Once pairs form, remove the other fish that will be harrassed to the death otherwise. If you get brevis as your shelldweller species, you might be able to have multiple pairs in the tank whereas if you get 6 of the multifasciatus, you shouldn't need to remove any extra fish.

[24Tropheus]

I would say you should start with six each of your shelldweller and julie species. Once pairs form, remove the other fish that will be harrassed to the death otherwise. If you get brevis as your shelldweller species, you might be able to have multiple pairs in the tank whereas if you get 6 of the multifasciatus, you shouldn't need to remove any extra fish.

Great answer.

For a short time at least you could have Paracyps swimming above. I did this in a 29g. It worked fine (year or so) untill I decided the Paracyps would breed more in a bigger tank and show more colour with a nice overhang.