Malawi Eye Biter

[macman7010]

I have seen some of these fish as juvienelles and read a little bit about them. I wondered if anyone on here has kept them, and if so how are they as far as agression - and what size do they typically get in captivity. Also do they require the same water as most other African Cichlids and would they do ok with the following specs...

Ph = 7.3
Water Temp = 78
1 Ahl's Haplochromis
6 Electric Yellow Cichlids
2 Helena Chromis Cichlids
1 Galaxy King Pleco

[JSchmidt]

I've kept Dim. compressiceps and I think they're cool. I have a mature male in my 180 and he's about 9" in total length, and still growing a bit. These fish aren't that aggressive to other fish, except maybe their own kind. They also aren't that good as predators, unfortunately. (His tanks is being overrun with kennyi fry; he's apparently inept or lazy at predation, something I've seen in my other compressiceps, too.)

These are great fish and I've found that visitors really like them, too. As with all Rift Lake cichlids, the like higher pH, hard water. Your water, at pH of 7.3, is a bit more acidic than I prefer for my africans, but if you're have been doing OK, I wouldn't mess with it.

HTH,
Jim

[macman7010]

Thanks Jim! I might consider picking one up in the near future. They really are neat looking fish.

[Verse914]

what size tank are you thinking about putting them in? They should have at least a 125gal as they get pretty large. Anything less, and they will show you what their aggression is all about.

[mogurnda]

I agree with everything except their being lousy predators. I had a small group of half grown compressiceps in a mixed hap tank and discovered their predatory abilities when I added some large Beunos Aires tetras to the tank as dithers. The compressiceps stalked them and cut them to pieces before I could rescue any of them. In all the years of keeping haps I have never seen anything like it. They literally cut them in half. Maybe the kenyi fry are too small to be interesting?

[Tiger15]

I also found Malayan compressisep cool looking because of its unique shape and not aggressive at all for its size. I have my second one and the first one lived for 8 years ,reached 9 inch and evenutally died of old age. Whether they will show their preditorial behavior depends on how you feed them. I fed mine with dried food only and it shows no predictorial instinct. He has been growing up with small fish and he has no interest in preying on small fish he grew up with. But it doesn't mean he won't prey on small fish if I introduce new mouth size fish to the tank.

[mogurnda]

But it doesn't mean he won't prey on small fish if I introduce new mouth size fish to the tank. My compressiceps had never eaten live fish, and the tetras were about 2/3 their size. The compressiceps had never shown any interest in bothering the other haps, but somthing about the tetras made them go wild.

It's important to separate predation from aggression. Mbuna are much more aggressive, even though they are herbivores. I agree that compressiceps are generally not very aggressive, all I was trying to say was that, given the right stimulus, they can be very effective predators.

[macman7010]

This fish would be housed in a 40 gallon tank till it grows out some then into a 150 g. The juvinelles I can purchase are only about 1.5 inches in size. Also how fast do these fish grow... are they slower growers or over night mulipliers like oscars.

[Verse914]

No, they wont grow as fast as an oscar, but they growly fairly fast till about 4". I had one in my 75gal that I had to get rid of when she hit 5" because of aggression. She wasnt too bad, but I wanted to try and get a male later on when I get a 125.

[JSchmidt]

I wouldn't keep them in the 40 for very long, even at 1.5 inches. They do much better with some swimming room. Also, if you want to see some interesting behavior, have some plants (real or fake) with vertical blades (e.g., tall. broad bladed grass) in the tank. You'll see them do their hunting thing, which is to hang out in the grass nose-down, very still, until something comes along, at which point it will dart out and try to capture it. (Mine generally don't capture anything except food pellets, but they still try...)

They aren't super-rapid growers, but they will probably gain an inch in the first year, maybe more.

Jim