Pundamilia nyererei red west Mwanza cichlid, Lake Victoria

[kencufc]

I recently purchased 10 Pundamilia nyererei Red F1 from West Mwanza. I have kept and bred Malawi mbuna's and Aulonocara's but never Victorians. The fish are 1.25" right now and are in a 15gal tank until a friend can take 5 of them, then the other five will either be put into a 29gal or 55gal.

I did some research and understand that Malawi and Victoria water parameters are similar, so there shouldn't be much problem there. However, the literature on diet seems to vary according to the fish's original location.

Any tips from the experts about diet, plant mates, etc.?

I will be feeding them some cichlid crisps with algae meal, mysis shrimp, frozen cocktail shrimp, and regular ol' cichlid pellets.

I added somoe Valinseria and Java moss along with some duckweed. Any comments or advice is appreciated!

 

[toddnbecka]

They'll need to go into a 55, a 29 is simply too small for 5 of them. If they eat the duckweed you'll know they like at least some vegetable food in their diet. Even my malawi Hap's get spirulina flake occaisonally, they don't mind a bit.

 

[LadyBarbara001]

I'm not familiar with that varient, but, Pundamilia species are carnivores. I feed my carnivores a mix of Spirulina flake, cichlid flake, and whatever meaty foods I feel like that day, frozen or freeze dried.

They can be rather boisterous, and I'd definitely suggest a larger tank, as was recommended. They may tear up your plants, or they may leave them alone. Make sure you have a good male to female ratio, 1 male to at least 3 females is best.

 

[AfroCichlid]

Beautiful fish, Kencufc. You'll have to snap some photos for us.

As far as diet, LadyBarbara's mixture is pretty much exactly what I feed my carnivores. They get flakes once a day and something meaty ( frozen or live, I've never had any success with freeze-dried ), once a day.