Conditions For Brichardi

[FishNMusic]

I am going to be buying some Juvenile Brichardis fo a 30 gallon tank. The fish are an inch and 3/4 to two inches. What would be the condtions for this fish, like Ph and temp and the whole nine yards. Also what should the tank consist of like rocks and driftwood with sand on the bottom.

Thank You

[Jayhawk]

Brichari are great fish. With 6, you'll most likely get a pair, perhaps two pairs, but I'm pretty sure only 1 pair will work out in your tank (don't worry, when they have little ones they form a colony and your tank will slowly fill up).

Temp. about 76, pH 7.8-8.5, GH/KH as hard as possible. However, despite those numbers, they are rather adaptable.

Tank set up with sand/crushed coral substrate, rocks with caves, no to few plants (they come from rocky areas with little vegetation). Unless your water is high pH and hard naturally, stay away from driftwood since it lowers pH.

Like I said, they're cool fish. The National Aquarium in Baltimore has a large colony and that's what first got me interested in Tanganyikans.

Eric

[FishNMusic]

Thank you another question is how easily do these fish Breed?

[Jayhawk]

Like rabbits...once you get a pair, it's easy. And, they're really good parents and their fry as they get older help defend the smaller fry. Luckily, most spawns are rather small, but they can be good money/trade fish at the LFS since most fry survive.

[FishNMusic]

How fast does Brichardi Fry Grow. Also how long does it take for them to hit Maturity.

[SBee]

I'm also interested in Brichardi's...

how would they do with frontosa's and some Malawi mbunas??

[Jayhawk]

FishNMusic - They grow slowly (all Tanganyikans do when compared to SA/CA cichlids), but not as slowly as calvus/compressiceps.

SBee - full sized fronts could terrorize brichardi - or the brichardi colony if well established would pound on them like a pack of wolves attacks a large bear. I wouldn't mix lakes, personally, so I've no idea how they would do with Malawians.

Eric