dwarf Africans - who knows?

[Scooter]

I'm looking for a dwarf African that is colorful and will do best with a sand substrate, something other than Xenotilapia species. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

[Verse914]

you could go with some shelldwellers such as Neolamprologus brevis, Neolamprologus multifasciatus, Lamprologus
ocellatus "Gold", or Neolamprologus caudopunctatus. All of them stay really small.

[Cichlid Woman]

Kribensis are actually Africans, and they stay under 4".

-- Pat

[Scooter]

Thanks. Shellies and kribs are certainly options. Anyone else have some suggestions? Something out of the ordinary or a little hard to find (less popular) would be even better.

[firetank]

i keep harping on about them, but i like anomalochromis thomasi; african butterfly cichlid.

i have three...(rescued a single spec this weekend who was in a tank full of blue acaras..... the sales guy was adamant it was an acara... i just smiled.....)

they are very peaceful, and closely have beautiful patterning...

definitely my favourites in the tank...

i have sand sub too...

grow to 3 3 1\2"

:D ;)

[Scooter]

Whoa! I don't think 33 1/2 inches is really a dwarf is it?

Just kidding. Good looking fish. Thanks a bunch for the pointer. That's about the size I'm looking for and if they resemble Blue Acaras, which is even better because I like those too. :)

[Harry Tolen]

Cichlid Woman and Firetank both propose an interesting idea: cichlids from West Africa as opposed to the Rift Lake complex. If your water is soft and acidic (or you have R/O and can make it so), these fish will be highly rewarding. My own current favorite in this category is Nanochromis transvestitus, although you have to be able to get the pH down to about 5.5 and hold it there in order for them to breed for you.

[firetank]

further from what harry said,

try these links....

http://www.geocities.com/xfrpat/
http://www.freshwatertropicalfishkeeping.com/Fishes_Catalogue/african_non-lake_cichlids_catalogue.htm
http://home.online.no/~stalsber/westafr.htm

:D

[Mcdaphnia]

These are kind of cool. go visit http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/list.htm then find Enantiopus melanogenys Zambia and click on it for a picture.

[Verse914]

Originally posted by Mcdaphnia
These are kind of cool. go visit http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/list.htm then find Enantiopus melanogenys Zambia and click on it for a picture. Heres a direct link to the pic...
http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/images/enantiopus_melanogenys.JPG

and yes, those fish are really cool!

[BigOh]

Cool fish ... but not dwarfs. They move huge amounts of sand for spawning pits. I think males get about 5"

For african cichlid only discussion visit:

http://www.african.uklinux.net/phpBB/index.php

[Scooter]

Thanks all. Seems like some really good suggestions. I'll do some more research on these ideas and see where I end up. Again, thanks to all for the pointers and suggestions.