Lake Malawi Species • champsochromis caeruleus

[jcover]

Anyone on here have any luck keeping these guys?

How were their temperments?
Were they very active?
How big did they grow? I see on the species profile on here it says they can get 18"!!
What size of tank did you keep them in?
Were they worth it?

Thanks!

[gverde]

I have 3 males in a male hap/peacock 220 gallon around 8-9". They are in there with other large haps, buccos, a frontosa. They are constantly showing who is the dominant one chasing one another but generally don't hurt each other. 2 are showing full color. The most dominant will chase the other haps and peacocks on occasion but not to hurt them. They are beautiful fish. I had one a couple of years ago that was about 12".

[jcover]

gverde, how long did it take for your champ to get to 8-9"? Have you ever heard of them attaining the 18" size in aquariums?

[gverde]

I raised a lot of different haps and the champs are one of the faster growing haps. When I got them they were around 2". Within a year they were close to the size they are now. I don't think they would get 18" in a home aquarium unless it was a 400 gallon or higher tank. Like I said previously, I have had a couple that only reached a little over a foot.

[jcover]

They do grow pretty quick eh! What other stocking do you have with them? What food do you feed them and what food did you raise them on?

[gverde]

Protomla hertae, Exochromis anagenys, Protemelas spilonutus, Tyrannochromis nigriventer, VC-10, Venustus, Mdoka white lips, Phenochilus tanzania, Lawanda, Otopharynx heterodon, Protemelas insignis, Bucco Rhodesesii, Bucco heterotaenia, Aristochromis christi, and Burundi frontosa. I feed them Omega one pellets.

[jcover]

So you have 3 of the trout, what else do you have for total numbers for each other species? Do you find it relatively peaceful with that many big haps in the tank?

[gverde]

I have 3 smaller Bucco Rhoadesii around 3.5" but they aren't a problem, 2 adult male white lips that fight every once in a while, but pretty much the tank is pretty calm. You will have a male fish on occasion that wants to breed and trys to be boisterous but they're cichlids.

[jcover]

Do you have any pictures of your tank? What do you expect the final stocking to be?

[gverde]

Here is a shot of the tank and a pic of the dominant champ and my wild caught b.rhoadesii. Some of the haps are hiding in the rock so the tank looks a little bare. Some of the haps are juvenile so I'll let them grow to adult size to fill up the tank. I probably won't add much more.

[jcover]

Nice group of fish you have there! I've been wanting to add some Trout as well as a Bucco species to my tank.

What are those two large pink fish in your tank?

[gverde]

Those are 2 extra male oreochromis esculentus. They are a victorian cichlid on the critically endangered list. I have a 125g with an adult group thats always breeding.

[jcover]

Oh okay. They kind of reminded me of kissing gouramis lol. I like the stocking you have in your tank. Lots of them are ones that I hope to have one day.