Lake Victoria Basin, West African, Madagascar & Asian Species • Pseudocrenilabrus philander

[ahud]

Has anybody kept these? I can't find much on them, but they seem like a cool westie. Thinking about grabbing a group.

[prov356]

Just me, but go with p. nicholsi instead.



Great fish. Stunning males. Females spawn at about 1.5". A group with say 2m/6f can do well in a 30 gallon or so. Easy to breed. Not overly aggressive, but males want to spawn 24/7, so have hideouts for females. See some comparison pics here.

[StructureGuy]

Has anybody kept these?

Post a picture of them if you can. Most of the Pseudocrenilabrus philander I've seen being sold in the US are really Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor victoriae.

Kevin

[ahud]

I have read that P. Multicolor shows extended brood care and that the female will call the fry back into her mouth when there is danger. I want to see this behavior so bad. Are there any other west african mouthbrooders that will show this behavior?

Would this fish do well with a pair of benitochromis in a 5ft planted tank? Tim, you mentioned Benitochromis to me, have you kept them? I read up on them, awesome fish. May be more of what I am looking for. Will I have a difficult time finding these?

[prov356]

You should probably get hold of Lamobj's book if you're going to get seriously into West Africans.

[ahud]

Do you have the book? I'm about 50/50 on buying it. If you have it, persuade me into buying it lol. I'm digging the West Africans, such a different feel to them. I also have the soft water that a lot of them appreciate to boot I wish fish related books were not so expensive, but I know there is a great deal of work involved in putting them together.

I seen "random online fish supplier" had wc Benitochromis nigrodorsalis for $19 each. If the fish are sexable, is that a good price? You probably know the vendor I am referring too.
As always thanks for all the time you give up helping me Tim. I feel like I can always get about halfway into stuff and you give me the information to go the rest of the way.

[prov356]

Buy the book.

I don't want to discuss vendors and prices in the open discussion forum as someone's bound to start throwing out recommedations which is against forum rules.

[ahud]

Book bought.

Understandable on the vendors. I will look for a few weeks to get a handle on prices. I will want time to look through the book to decide what fish I want to go after anyway.

[prov356]

Book bought.

Understandable on the vendors. I will look for a few weeks to get a handle on prices. I will want time to look through the book to decide what fish I want to go after anyway.

I'll be interested to see what you come up with. I went through the whole book and tagged what I was interested in. Many are hard to find and many are expensive, but I've managed to get 10 species. There are about 8 more that I'm interested in keeping, but some are huge, so may never happen.

Also, Google images and videos of any you're interested in, don't just rely on a few pics in the book. I was so-so on some until I saw a video that blew me away.

These guys have been tougher to breed. So far, two out of the 10, meaning successfully raised 10+ fry. You may need patience.

I used to think of only 'kribs' and 'jewels' when westies were mentioned. Lamboj's book opened my eyes to a really great group of fish that I wasn't even aware of.

I'm purposely not mentioning any species names because I'm really curious to see how your list compares to mine.

Started my westie community tank with the spare adults. It's coming along. I may have some video soon.

[ahud]

I'll shoot you a PM after I get the book and have time to go through with it. I hope I don't regret using that 72" tank for occies lol.

Hopefully since I have the 5ft 110 and the 4ft 33 long I will be able to keep a few.

Thanks