Who keeps (or has kept) Julidochromis species?

Scooter

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Jun 5, 2001
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Knoxvegas, TN
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For those or you who have kept Julies (or still do), what's your favorite species and what did (do) you like the most and the least about them? Which ones would work best in a community type set up of small Tanganyikans? TIA.
 
I guess my favorite is the very dark phase of J. transcriptus. I have had several fry hatch out that are solid black. I saved those and use them as breeders.

I also had albino J. ornatus. At one time I had six pairs each producing 20 - 40 fry every couple weeks. On the other hand, I like the "different" coloration of J. dickfeldi, and the barred J transcriptus "Gombi". That's really hard to decide which is the favorite.

I generally keep julies in a species tank with no other present. What they would go with would be another question.
 
Julie ornatus or transcriptus would work great. Both are small and very relaxed IMO. I keep J. marlieri, dickfeldi, regani, ornatus and transcriptus. You might even get by with dickfeldi too. They are very nice fish, maybe a bit more dangerous in a community tank due to them being a midsized Julie. It would depend upon tank size too. As long as they had territory to defend if they started breeding, there wouldn't be an issue. I have a breeding pair of J. ornatus in with a small calvus and there aren't too many issues. They don't like him, but they don't chase him all day long either!
 
Awesome! Thanks for the info. I actually had a heavy eye on both transcriptus and ornatus, so the input was exactly what I was hoping for. Having never kept Julies, I needed some information from those with actual experience. Thanks again.
 
I actually think the transcriptus I have are a bit more aggressive than the ornatus. Just basing it on how they attack a calvus that I keep putting in their tanks to get rid of excess babies. The ornatus may be a bit more active. Just my experience though.
 
Hi Scooter,
" I have actually had a heavy eye on both transcriptus and ornatus,"

I hope you aren't considering keeping both ornatus and transcriptus together. Everything I have read on Julies strongly discourages this combination. I personally find the transcriptus to be more attractive looking fish. HTH.
 
Hey Nyasa. No, I have no plans to keep both species together. I only meant that those were two of the Julidochromis species I was taking a hard look at. Thanks for the info.
 
Depending on the size of the tank and the companion fish, Julidochromis marlieri can also be an excellent choice. Not too aggressive, but very attractive, especially in its darker forms (as below):

Marlieri01r.jpg
 
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