Hemichromis lifalili: The gamble.

[BigJohn]

I have a 50 gal that had until recently a pair of Pelvicachromis taeniatus, with some harlequin rasboras, gold tetras, glowlight tetras and 3 angel. I don't know why I got angels , I find them boring, but anyway, the male taeniatus died, so I went to the store to see what they had.

They had hemichromis lifalil. Juveniles. Cheap. I know they can fit in a 50 gal. Let's have a few and try to form a pair to replace the taeniatus pair. Well before they formed a pair, the started to go after the angels fins, so bye bye angels. They were ignoring the other fish, so I assumed all was fine. Yet, why not do some reading other than basic profile data.

Hum. Interesting. Hum. How aggressive exactly? Darn... I like my little tetras and rasboras. I have to get them out of there right now. So I decided to part from my Dwarf Rainbows (from another tank B) and the glowlight tetras. To the shop we go...

The idea, that I will share now, is to have a little aggressive tank going, but the most interesting thing I have read that could fit with these killing machines are kribs. Great, I have a breeding pair at work. So I'll pick up some more rocks and plants to divide and maze up the tank. That's the plan: 50p gal a pair or lilifali, a pair of kribs.

This is when all suddenly goes very quickly. I remove the decor to help fishing out the rasboras and gold tetras to transfer to the other tank. The rasboras come out easily, but the gold tetras are the opposite. They are freaking out. Much to the delight of the lilifalis, who now show their douchey attitude by going after any fish caught in the net. I find all this kind of cool until one of them actually rams a tetra in the gut and eats it slowly as it is way too big to go in one bite. It is the only one I lost, but they systematically followed the net after that, there were many close calls.

I redo the set-up, dividing the tank as much as possible. Pretty happy with the result, it is time to clean up and go prepare dinner.

Just a brief look at the tank before dinner. Hum... Interesting... Why is this one fish chasing every other fish around? Hum... He's not chasing that one. He's chasing every other fish but that one. They are chasing every other fish together. So those two are the pair. There was no pairing at all this morning, just a continuous game of tag. And now they paired and started nipping at the other guys' fins... Back to the store tomorrow to give back the unpaired lilifalis...


Let's see if it works.

 

[BigJohn]

Update #1

Well, fished out the unpaired lilifalis. Went to the store, brought back some more plants. Add plants to the tank.

Put a movie on.

2 hours later: eggs.

The remaining pair were the first two to lose their black spot at the tail.

That was fast...

 

[Shaysfishys]

Yep it does go quick!!! One minute there's a group all's peaceful, change things up a walla walla bing bang there's a pair. Good for you staying on top of things and rescuing the others before they were murdered.

 

[BigJohn]

I tried and failed to do the same with the last other fish currently in the tank: the female taeniatus. She is not seen as a major threat: I saw her on a couple of occasions swimming just above the clutch of eggs. The male does chase her away, but I have yet to see any real rough play. She is not that much bigger than the gold tetra that was slaughtered in front of my face. She is twice the length and probably 3 times the body size. I don't think she is safe at 1"3/4, especially since the lifalilis are 2"1/4 .

The male is not really near the eggs that much today... He just swims all over the tank, sometimes with the female taeniatus.

Not to be outdone, the bolivian rams in the other tank have also laid eggs. Can't wait to see if more survive past the wiggler stage now that the rainbows are gone.

I will introduce the kribs on Monday.

 

[BigJohn]

Wigglers...

 

[BigJohn]

So the fully grown Kribs pair was added yesterday. They are much bigger than the lifalilis, but they keep a very low profile. They have set up a little zone for themselves in one corner of the tank.

The opposite corner is of course occupied bu the fry and their parents. They do come and chase the kribs, even the male who is way way bigger than any of the two lifalilis.

Happiest in all this is the female taeniatus, who now as a couple of buddies.

If both side spawn at the same time, thing will get pretty intense in there.

 

[Slappy*McFish]

This thread would be so much more with pics. I'd love to see an ongoing photo journal.

 

[BigJohn]

I'm working on that.

The cloud of fry vanished in 3-4 days. Perhaps eaten. I did not feed the fry anything special: there is a sponge prefilter on the filter intake and Java moss in there, so I assumed that it would sustain the little guys until big enough to eat crushed flakes... If this repeats itself, I will have to figure out a way to get fry food at the right spot.

The straight vallisneria I planted to divide the thank has been I believe eaten, the giant vallisneria is holding up better... for the moment. If they go also, I will have to get another big flat thin rock. This hobby is a money pit.

The kribs have been cornered into their little sanctuary: a cluster of wood and coconut shells. Basically, the lifalilis own 80% of the tank and leave the small side to the krib pair and the female teaniatus.


Until the next spawning, I believe that this is gonna be the status quo. The kribs, not having any dither fish, are more than happy to stay around their lairs, the lifalilis

In the meantime, I rescued 3 otos from that tank that were harassed by the lifalilis...


Now should I post pics (it's a crappy phone story), you might notice the other 50 gal tank in the background, I have those 2 tanks set-up back to back as a divider between the dining area and the living room area. That second 50 gal is the opposite of the krib-lifalili tank: it has a lot of fish in it. I bought a second eheim filter for that one. But it still has lots of fish in it (Bolivian rams, rummy nose and gold tetras plus harlequin rasboras, otos and Yamato shrimps). I would really appreciate not having negative comments about that other tank.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BigJohn]

Well, here is my little set-up.

They just had dinner, and the lifalilis are swimming little pigs...



The last pic is from the first spawning. That plant at the left has been eaten.

So far, they ate the straight vallisneria but left the giant variety almost alone, and they did not touche the anubias and cryptocoryne balansae. I might go and get some more cryptocoryne balansae...

 

[BigJohn]

I did not know when I signed for this site that it was dead and that I would not get insightful input. So I would like to delete this thread and its pictures.

Many thanks.