ID Help- Cichlids? What type, species?

[Flatliner]

I inherited these fish when I bought my house a few weeks ago, previous owner left them for us as the tanks are built in to the wall unit. Fish food states Cichlids, but since over 900 species... I have yet to find a similiar fish.
Any help would be appreciated. In the second pic there is one with yellow, don't know if this is the same type of fish or not.

Thanks in advance!
Victor

 

[liv2padl]

you've got a nice colony of Tropheus moorii, an African cichlid from Lake Tanganyika. this is not an easy fish to maintain ... here's some info.

Tropheus are difficult:

1. they cannot tolerate poor water quality and neither can they adapt quickly to significant changes in their tanks water chemistry. this means that large water changes cause problems. frequent, small changes in the neighborhood of 10 percent are a must. this makes nitrogen waste management difficult since a group of Tropheus feeds almost constantly and contribute a high waste load to any tank.

2. the Tropheus intestinal tract is designed for slow, constant bacterial processing of the large quantities of algae they consume. therefor, unless you have a heavy load of algae in your tank, they must be fed small amounts of spirulina, often. 6 times daily would be about right.

3. Tropheus species maintain a strict but evolving heirarchy. they therfor need to be maintained in large groups of twelve to fifteen fish at a minimum. not doing so will allow the dominant fish to pick on lesser Tropheus tank mates if there are fewer fish. the aggression can’t be spread around unless you have enough fish.

4. 12-15 fish dictates a tank sizes of 75 gallons minimum. you simply cannot keep Tropheus successfully in anything smaller. a smaller tank does not allow the chased fish to have room to escape the aggresion of dominant fish and eventually the dominant fish will do serious injury or kill the lesser tank mates.

5. Tropheus cannot tolerate stress. you need to change the water the same day of each week and in the same amount each time. turn your light on and off at the same time each day. feed them the same food sequence each time you feed them. basically do the same thing all the time every time.

6. all Tropheus digest their food in a similar manner, bacteria breaking down the food in a long intestinal tract. when a Tropheus cannot digest food properly it stops eating and attempts to discharge whatever is causing the irritation. "Bloat" is the result and left untreated, it will continue to attack the fish until several if not all the Tropheus in the tank die. it's a difficult disease to treat and more Tropheus are lost to this disease than all others combined.

i could go on, but i think you get the idea.

 

[Flatliner]

Wow... that is a lot of information, but exactly what I was looking for, thanks! Are there other African Cichlids that may be compatible with them? I think I have now pinpointed more with your information... links below, what would the F1 mean, is this a breeding term?

Tropheus F1 Golden Kazumba:
Click Here
and also Tropheus F1 Ikola:
Click Here

- Aggresion: boy have I seen this... the one tank isn't so bad, but the other has one fish that has all the others hiding in the filters. LFS told me to move landscaping around that this might help. I noticed one is beat up pretty good by him, think I should nurse him by separating him?

- Water changes: Just bought the gravel vacuum for this weekend, so will do a few gallons per week each tank on Sundays before FOOTBALL . I think I have a 30 gallonish tank, but need to take measurements to fugure out what it is. Previous owner has a fluval 303 on one tank and a E-something on the other and each one has undergravel filter as well.

- Feeding: Happy to see your information, I was feeding once a day same time, but will do 30 sec spurts going forward with less food. I have green flake food (kelp maybe?), Some itty bitty pellets that add to the fishes colors (a little over the last week and a half and saw a huge difference), and some algae discs.

- Lighting: Same time everyday!

 

[Flatliner]

Actually, I just noticed you stated Tropheus Moori, but are these the same as the Tropheus Golden Kazumba?

I found this link on Tropheus Moori: Click Here

 

[liv2padl]

Tropheus moori is simply a generic nomenclature that covers all the various color morphs such as "golden kazumba". they're still all T. moori. there are other species of Tropheus .. duboisi and brichardi for example.

30 gallon tank? that's VERY small for 12 plus of this species and may account for some aggression problems you are having or will have very soon. they need to be able to establish territories and need at least 55 gallons and preferably 75 for a group of 12-15 of these fish to do so. they just don't do well if maintained in groups of less than at least 12 ... they'll hang on for several months but slowly decline and ultimately die. they're much too expensive for that to happen.

sometimes removing ALL the decororations, waiting a couple of hours, doing a water change and then putting back the decorations in a very different scheme can help temporarily. the problem is that given a week or two, they'll reestablish territories and the previous low man on the totem will likely end up there again. worth a try though.

feeding = spirulina either in flake or pellet form. diet should consist almost entirely of this. i feed my Tropheus nothing but spirulina. don't be tempted to 'treat' them to non spirulina foods .. it'll surely kill them.

other African cichlids that are compatible with Tropheus? very few. Eretmodus cyanostictus and Xenotilapia sp. but only in a much larger tank than you seem to have.

 

[Flatliner]

Gotcha... I'll have to measure the tanks when I get home, I was guess-timating, but I think I only have about 6 in each tank, have to count as well!

This last weekend I added water with a conditioner to the tanks, I added about 3 gallons each, but the water level was about 1.5" low... so maybe I am wrong about the size... here is a pic, but it is hard to tell how big they are.

 

[liv2padl]

wow .. i don't know what size tanks they are but boy that's a really nice room. too bad you have to suffer watching such a small screen TV. ;-)

 

[Flatliner]

Lol... thank you, but I can't take credit for the oak built in...
It's a Panasonic DLP HDTV, and get this... it was free! My other half won it through her work, something they did to help boost morale in her company, boy did it boost mine!

 

[liv2padl]

hey, it boosted mine as well and i don't even get to watch it ... hahahahahah

 

[Flatliner]

Well the measurement I got were 37x19x18 and is an all glass aquarium, but there website doesn't have an exact match. The closest is a 36x18x18 and that is a 50 gallon. So I am guessing now it is a 50 gallon, I think my trim on the width adds an inch maybe??? :huh: