PhaidOut
06-29-2010, 11:26 PM
I thought I would post this about my experience with these after checking out my tank full of these. They are a nice river cichlid from the Congo, they are not as colorful as their Pelvachromis relatives. I hadn't kept any Nanochromis until I picked up a pair of these as F0 adults about a year ago. I have however kept several Pelvachromis species and they are very similar.
So everyone knows, they are a mild cichlid until they breed. They are like the Pelvachromis species I have kept in that they will go ballistic on anything in the tank when they breed though - even much larger cichlids. Vicious little devils would be an accurate description.
When I picked mine up I just threw them into a grow out tank I had going until I could find better place for them. The parameters were anything but what everyone says they need to breed with a 7.8 pH and hardness in the 12-14 range vs 5.0-6.5 pH and hardness of 8 or lower. They came out of similar water when I got them and they were thriving in it. Despite the water parameters, one day after a few months all the other fish were herded into a corner and there were about 50 fry being herded about. They are a cave spawner and would herd the fry into caves for the night and when startled. The parents were very attentive and I did not lose any. I did remove other cichlids for their own health and safety though. I left the parents in for about 2 months. They did not try and breed "right away" (in a month or less) again like many of the Pelvachromis I have had do. I think it was because the female actually drove the male off after about 2 weeks of watching the fry. She kept him in about 1/3 of the tank after that, she did have him pretty beat him up for a while. And males are supposed to be the strong ones that might beat up the females...
I did sell the parents but I do have all the fry yet (tank full...) They are now between 3/4" and 1-1/4" at almost 5 months. They are slow growing like the Pelvachromis I have kept...
You can go ahead an mark this up as a don't believe everything you read about fish and only half what you see... This isn't unique in my experiences by any means.
So everyone knows, they are a mild cichlid until they breed. They are like the Pelvachromis species I have kept in that they will go ballistic on anything in the tank when they breed though - even much larger cichlids. Vicious little devils would be an accurate description.
When I picked mine up I just threw them into a grow out tank I had going until I could find better place for them. The parameters were anything but what everyone says they need to breed with a 7.8 pH and hardness in the 12-14 range vs 5.0-6.5 pH and hardness of 8 or lower. They came out of similar water when I got them and they were thriving in it. Despite the water parameters, one day after a few months all the other fish were herded into a corner and there were about 50 fry being herded about. They are a cave spawner and would herd the fry into caves for the night and when startled. The parents were very attentive and I did not lose any. I did remove other cichlids for their own health and safety though. I left the parents in for about 2 months. They did not try and breed "right away" (in a month or less) again like many of the Pelvachromis I have had do. I think it was because the female actually drove the male off after about 2 weeks of watching the fry. She kept him in about 1/3 of the tank after that, she did have him pretty beat him up for a while. And males are supposed to be the strong ones that might beat up the females...
I did sell the parents but I do have all the fry yet (tank full...) They are now between 3/4" and 1-1/4" at almost 5 months. They are slow growing like the Pelvachromis I have kept...
You can go ahead an mark this up as a don't believe everything you read about fish and only half what you see... This isn't unique in my experiences by any means.