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Calvus Companions

1K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  londonloco 
#1 ·
Hi there! I have an adult Calvus Black Congo I recently purchased. He is a great fish and I put him in my show tank 75 gallon with a mix of other males. He is only doing average in this setting, as he only gets leftover food and is washed out color wise with the white aragonite sand.

So I think I would like to put him in my long 20 gallon and create that tank around him. Would you be so kind to help with:
1. Substrate: I have heard a black congo looks great with black sand
2. (more importantly) Companions so he is king of the tank

thank you very much in advance for the assistance.
jesseschu
 
#7 ·
h0nkzz said:
prov356, not only he will be picking up fry, but adult calvus will snack on them adult multies too :D

I do agree on getting couple of females for your lone male.
Having kept adult and wild large calvus with multifasciatus, for the better part of 15 years on and off... I have yet to see calvus eat ANY adult multifasciatus. Once they get over half an inch, they seem to be completely ignored, at least in my experience. Now they will eat the odd fry, but that has never seemed to stop colony growth for me.

Now keep in mind, calvus aren't open water predators, in the wild they suck small fry out of the cracks and crevices of rocks.

Alto. compressiceps are better predators in the open water than calvus are, so I might be more weary of them.. but even there haven't lost adult shellies either.
 
#8 ·
Come to think of it, my calvus showed no interest in juli fry once they got to a certain size even though they were still small enough for them to eat. I see them as opportunistic predators and couldn't envision them aggressively going after a multi colony, which is why I suggested them. Just based on my experience with them. Have you seen otherwise h0nkzz?
 
#9 ·
They will be lighter with lighter substrate - but it doesn't always have to be that way. Mood can affect coloration and also the dominance structure among the fish and also the presence of females emitting pherimones can have an impact too.

If you were to do a black subtrate, I suggest CaribSea's Arag-Alive line, they have a Hawaiiam
Black aragnite. Petco has an offbrand they keep on the shelf. I have been doing some jumbling around of fish and tanks lately. I have some calvus bcwp, temp, in a 30 gallon with tahitian moon sand. I'll take some pics this weekend. I will also put up some pics of the same fish over a light aragonite (if you want me too???).
 
#10 ·
Fogelhund said:
h0nkzz said:
prov356, not only he will be picking up fry, but adult calvus will snack on them adult multies too :D

I do agree on getting couple of females for your lone male.
Having kept adult and wild large calvus with multifasciatus, for the better part of 15 years on and off... I have yet to see calvus eat ANY adult multifasciatus. Once they get over half an inch, they seem to be completely ignored, at least in my experience. Now they will eat the odd fry, but that has never seemed to stop colony growth for me.

Now keep in mind, calvus aren't open water predators, in the wild they suck small fry out of the cracks and crevices of rocks.

Alto. compressiceps are better predators in the open water than calvus are, so I might be more weary of them.. but even there haven't lost adult shellies either.
I've had neither calvus nor comp ever attempt to eat an adult shelldweller. Altos seem to be cautious of their delicate jaws.
 
#12 ·
Razzo said:
They will be lighter with lighter substrate - but it doesn't always have to be that way. Mood can affect coloration and also the dominance structure among the fish and also the presence of females emitting pherimones can have an impact too.

If you were to do a black subtrate, I suggest CaribSea's Arag-Alive line, they have a Hawaiiam
Black aragnite. Petco has an offbrand they keep on the shelf. I have been doing some jumbling around of fish and tanks lately. I have some calvus bcwp, temp, in a 30 gallon with tahitian moon sand. I'll take some pics this weekend. I will also put up some pics of the same fish over a light aragonite (if you want me too???).
I want you too!!!
 
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