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Tropheus Duboisi - Relentless Pacing

1K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  fishestate 
#1 ·
Hey there! I'm a new registered member here, but I've been a lurker for a years. For a long time I thought the forum wasn't allowing new registration because I never received the verification emails. Sorry to sign up and immediately have a question/problem rather than contributing first.

The issue:

I have a colony of Tropheus Duboisi and breed in-tank. There is one adult male, 6 adult females and numerous juveniles from constant successive fry.

The colony has done extremely well for two years. I have only lost one duboisi in that time. Since then I have treated three outbreaks of bloat with 100% success.

My tank parameters are stellar. I do 10-20% water changes at least once a week. I feed a mixture of homemade spinach, garlic and NLS pellets.

There is one duboisi juvenile who paces every day, and has since it was small. It is the only fish in the tank that paces like this in any way.

I remove groups of larger juveniles periodically to sell and fund the whole operation. I have kept this one because it is so high strung I don't think it will survive a move. So it is now the largest juvenile, but still paces every day. It eats, albeit not bravely, and it will usually calm down for short periods after feedings. I would say it is a little fat, so it definitely gets enough food.

Has anyone ever had a high-strung tropheus like this? Or a high-strung fish like this at all?
 
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#2 ·
I've had fish that paced a lot - synodontis multipunctatus comes to mind, but that behavior was minimized when they were put in a larger tank. My tropheus are always moving about, but I've never noticed any one fish doing it more than the others do.

What is the tank size?
 
#3 ·
The tank size is my primary theory, unfortunately. It's a 55gal, with lots of rocks. I plan to upgrade tank size as soon as possible (which may be as much as a year away).

That said, the population is high due to raising juveniles, but they are regularly removed.

I will be doing a rock shake-up this weekend, but that has not changed this particular fish's behavior in the past.

I looked up synodontis multipunctatus, I have seen that behavior in catfish as well. This has me stumped, I would be 100% on tank size (which I'm not against) if there were any sign of stress from any of the other fish. It's pacing now, coloring weird (brown/green instead of black/blue) which is classic stress symptoms. It'll stop pacing for a bit (usually) after I feed.

Thank you for your reply.
 
#4 ·
OR! What about this theory:

What if it's male? It's the oldest juvenile, and it still has its spots but seems capable of at least the starting coloration. Is it possible the dominant male in the tank is making the juvenile want to leave the area? The male is not picking on it (not that I have ever seen), so can the mere presence of an alpha male with a harem scare away a juvenile male? That's my only other theory.
 
#5 ·
I would think it's the male theory. My younger males acted and colored that way when I had too many males in a 75, I think they feel they have nowhere to get away from the dominant male/males. I would sell him or move him to another tank. I pulled some of the older males that I did not like as much as the younger males that were acting like this. Almost instantly they calmed and colored.
 
#6 ·
Even though this is a ~ <6 months old juvenile? It's not mature enough (one would think) to be threatened by the alpha (there's only one adult male)

I would easily catch and sell the little guy with the next batch-- but since it has done this since it was small small small I don't really think it's a gender thing... I suppose I could catch it and see if i can sex by checking the underside. If it's a female then we know it's something else...
 
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