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emperor cichlid?

8K views 27 replies 17 participants last post by  KitumbaKing 
#1 ·
If I understand correctly this is a fish from lake tang? I watched a video of a pair fending off a turtle and was in awe. I have a few questions. Is this a species available to the public? (I was unable to find any for sale online) My next question is, what would be the minimum tank size to keep a pair in alone together? While I know for sure that it is beyond anything I could attempt in the near future (LOL) I would love to keep a breeding pair of these awesome fish eventually. I am hoping to be getting a 180 or 200 gallon tank soon, but have a sneaking suspicion that this would be too small! :eek: Thanks in advance for your answers and please refrain from the "You're an idiot!" posts. I allready know that. :D
 
#5 ·
we apparently had a pair for sale at work (before i started working there)

if you can find em in australia with its crazy import regulations should be easy to get them in the US

can help u out with thae tank tho sorry mate ;) how sweet would it be to keep them in a pool and go swimming with them???
 
#6 ·
I've heard of someone keeping a pair in a 8'x3'x3' with a colony of Mpimbwe Frontosa :drooling: I wouldn't want to keep them in anything smaller, but if you can get your hands on a tank that size I'm sure hunting some down wouldn't be hard.
 
#8 ·
I know a guy that had a pair in a 240 gallon tank. The footprint was 8'x2'x2'. Amazingly enough they actually spawn for him in that tank. I believe the male eventually killed the female, but he sold off many fry from that one spawn.
 
#9 ·
Darkside said:
They are around, you need a custom tank for them. I'm kicking around the idea of it when I move later in the year.
Go for it :thumb:
but only as you only get 1 tank right? :lol:

I do have to agree on a custom tank, they do get very large and most tanks arent 3' deep.
But that would be cool.
 
#14 ·
My lfs has one of these, actually. In the 1'-2' range. Its in basically a cube shaped holding tank, roughly just big enough for the poor fish to turn around. I believe its for sale in the $100-$300 range. They say its a female. Sure would be nice if someone could give it a nice home. I certainly don't have a setup for her, and even if I did, I'm sure there are much cooler things you could do with a big tank like that.
 
#16 ·
Darkside said:
I don't know if that's true, there's nothing cooler than the King of cichlids. ;)
Sure they are cool and a fish I really want to try and breed one day. Not just a couple of breeds in a 6 foot tank but one where they can live halfway decent lives and breed a number of times, I
estimate that to be about 8 foot by 3 by 3 with dither fish like large fronts as dithers. Otherwise I guess I would just be keeping em for a while before the death of the female and then prob dumping the male on a public aquarium.

All the best James

PS I have seen em at 6" for about £60 here in the UK but think it less than resposible to sell em at this size (and price) without major warnings. :wink:
May well breed as little as 12" but then will easily get to 36" if given decent space and time to develop.
 
#17 ·
#20 ·
These fish are common in the trade if you go to stores that specialize in monster fish.

You can get small 3 inch ones from Ocean Blue in Orange, CA for 19.99 year round. He also sells adult specimens and ones of varying size.

Monsterfishkeeper has a few good tank examples, I would say a 300g + is needed for them prefferably 500+ so they can stretch their fins.

I think Brian ships so you could always just search the storenamein google with orange ca then call him.
 
#24 ·
I would love to one day to have the space to accommodate a large tank like others have suggested. It's going to be awhile, might as well start planting the seed with my wife....

I have two groups of kitumba Frontosa it would be great to put them in one giant aquarium with some of these monsters.
 
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