Lake Tanganyika Species • good news and great news in one day

[big-t]

Well i cant say enough about this forum and all the knowledge and help from everyone here. I am the guy who took my friends brundi front. tank, do to his spliiting up with his wife. They were neglected and over crowded 19- 3 to 6 inch fish with the breeding pair male 11 inch, female 7 inch all in a 5 foot 95 gal tank. I've since got good filtration,2 emperor 400s tons of water changes and have found homes for some. all color has come back in the fish ,have a huge appetite ,no fighting everyone is doing great. But still to many fish for such a small tank,and i need to get a good canister filter for them, fx4 is what im looking at.Anyways sat night i get on craigslist and there it is a 150 with stand lights canopy for a 100 bucks.So i get the set up yesterday for 75 bucks its acrylic very few small scratches 6 feet long 24 wide and 20 tall,ooooh yaaa.im way stoked now im setting up a new tank for these brundi's ..happy happy.then i look in my 95 gallon at my big female and she has a whole mouth full of eggs,super happy now ,but i have nowere to put her for now so i think ill get a tank seperator ,she has had atleast 4 broods naturally that i know of, so i think ill just divide her off from the rest and hope for the best untill i get my 150 set up.pics are coming of my 75 $ 150 and stand and pics of my female with eggs..thanks guys

[chago]

that is great news indeed!!..... once youve finished the setup the 95gal will be a great spawning/growout tank!!!

Congrats!!!

can't wait to see thse pics!

[cichlidgirl1]

That really is good news.

im currently also trying to get a second big tank (all ready have 135 6 foot) now i need a second one for my mpimbwe. Im trying to work a deal with a guy 2 hours away. Your tank prices in CA make me sick LOL. He did want 1,500 for his 4 year old 7 foot 265 gallon tank but im trying to get him to trade it for my 72 bow and 70 tall and breeding stock for his breeding program. I hope it works out. Have not heard back yet. I just cant get over how cheap you all sell your used big tanks for.

Anyway congrats on your holding female. Does she swallow the eggs or is she a good holder ? You could try the septerator if she is harrassed, if she is left alone you might want to let her be.

[big-t]

Ya im blown away on the deal i got too,well as far as the holding female this will be my first experience with this,The guy i got her from said to just seperate her from the rest with a tank divider and leave her alone and she will produce alot of fish,but the lfs said in about 2 weeks to strip her and put her back in with the colony.i dont know what to do

[cichlidgirl1]

Most front breeders strip them so they dont risk the fish swallowing the eggs. If you are not setup to care for the fry seperately i would leave her in there. You will lose the babies in the main tank. Your other option if she holds for two weeks is to get a 30 gallon tank and after say 18 days put her in there and when she feels comfy she will spit on her own (provide a cave for her), then put her in the main tank right away and feed her. That way the babies are in the grow tank right from the beginning.

[big-t]

thanks for the help it just so happens i have a set up 30 gal with two 4 inch fronts in it now,i just hope if i transfer those two guys in with the colony that they will be ok ,they wont be the smallest fish in there but they have never been with so many fish before,they are all brundi,think it will work out if i do the transfer at night and with moving the rocks around in the tank,im just worried about the big 11 inch male..thanks for the help

[cichlidgirl1]

Your very welcome.

[Razzo]

Wow, that's great news.

Here's a good article on how to strip fry, thought you might like. Also, once you get everything set up and are comfortable, perhaps you can strip the eggs and tumble them. Not sure, but I think some folks strip at 5 to 7 days and tumble (perhaps others can help with this topic if you are interested).

https://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/stripping.php

Good Luck,
Russ

[big-t]

thanks razzo im hoping to get my new 150 gal tank set up by the end of next week . just ordered a xp4 and emperor 400 and 2- 250 watt jager heaters today , they should be here mon,tues,of next week. I think my best bet is to do what cichildgirl wrote and put her in my set up 30 gal by her self untill she spits and then put her back with the colony. Its hard to decide what to do being my first breeding mother and all .to strip or just let her spit,I guess will see, ill post some pics of the fish and my new used 150 .thanks for the help everyone

[Razzo]

thanks razzo im hoping to get my new 150 gal tank set up by the end of next week . just ordered a xp4 and emperor 400 and 2- 250 watt jager heaters today , they should be here mon,tues,of next week. I think my best bet is to do what cichildgirl wrote and put her in my set up 30 gal by her self untill she spits and then put her back with the colony. Its hard to decide what to do being my first breeding mother and all .to strip or just let her spit,I guess will see, ill post some pics of the fish and my new used 150 .thanks for the help everyone

I am not familiar with the xp4 but I assume it's a good canister. I have a similar setup: FX5, Emp 400 and same heaters as you. Good luck and I look forward to those pics

[lloyd]

i've never Q'd a holding frontosa. when i had burundi, i stripped at 20-25 days. there are some southern variants that need to be stripped much sooner, but as a rule, northerns are good moms. HTH.

[big-t]

hey lloyd sorry for my ignorance but what does (Q'd) mean ,and also is there southern and northern burundi fronts . thanks for the help

[cichlidgirl1]

Q'd i think meant quarenteened. I think that there are different collection points spread around the lake:
Bulu Point
Burundi
Karilani
Kavala
Zaire North

Here is a map of the general species collection areas. If you click on the fish it tells the name and gives info about them and has thumbnails of different examples of the different collection points etc.. Pretty nice just wish it had the cities of export marked since that is often where the name comes from with collection point nearby but not always the same location as the name.

https://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/frontosa_variant_map.php

I had not seen this map and info before . I really liked it. Chocked full of info and good photos.

[big-t]

Wow thanks alot cichildgirl, great info, the map and info really helped.Here are a few pics of my burundi type.A few have some feathering on the fins,but they look 10 times better now than when i adopted them 45 days ago,plus the tank will be cut in half population wise and i will have some happy burundi in my 150 gal. my holding female wont come out of her cave for a pic,but ill catch her with her mouth cracked open for some egg shots soon,thanx for everthing.

[cichlidgirl1]

Wow, those are some very nice looking burundi. High quality. I can only hope mine will look as nice with time and care. you are doing a great job. Really.