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Whatever sand you put in there they will just dig and move it around anyway....either will be fine. Depends on your water conditions, if you have hard water anyway I would not change it. I am lucky enough to have hard water out the tap and only add dechlorinator. Stable water conditions are...

Yes I understand the concept and have heard and seen it used with mixed results. My point was that Frontosa being deep water fish originally and being used to cooler water would be less likely to respond to this stimuli.

How about a sp black variant or Ikola? Something a bit different to your two existing colonies. Moops are very popular too.

There are rarely 'quick fixes' when it comes to frontosa aggression. Sure you could re-arrange the tank, you could put more hiding spots in for the other fish, but at the end of the day, unless you have a bigger tank the dominant male will almost always chase them back into hiding. They will...

Id is widely agreed that Duboisi don't hybridise with other species of Tropheus....some people even consider them a slightly different species. So you could mix them with another group, however, rather than do that (where you would need 30+ fish in total, and the duboisi dominate) why not just...

Ideally you need a 6ft tank and abo-ut 3 to 4 more Frontosa. Then the males agression will eb spread out between more fish and they have more room to get away....any chance of a bigger tank?

When keeping Fronts they display and act their best in a colony of at least 6+ IME If you are intent on keeping them then I would base the other fish around them. Moorii should be fine with them as they also get pretty large. maybe a trio or quad of these (1 male). If you get the Fronts young...

Usually a male and female will guard/dig/aquascape a few shells together, but the female will spend more time hovering directly over a couple of chosen shells and inside, with the male generally out in the open protecting his area.

£25 each?! Well I would say that shop is ripping you off. Look on aquarist classified ads there are always people selling bristelnoses for as low as £1 each. Where about in the country are you?

I have kept both in a 180 and while both seemed fine, I noticed much more activity from Cyps when they are in a 4ft tank. I would suggest this as the minimum. A group of 5-6 paracyps should be fine though in a 180, with just the one male if poss.

As hinted on in the cookie cutters, a small shoal of zebra danios or dwarf rainbows would be a good addition. Say 5 or 6 at the most. In terms of mid dwelling (do you mean rock dwelling?) there are not really an options, other tang fish suitable for this size tank will more than likely compete...

How can you be sure that you have 3 males and 1 female? Just from the one hiding? Let the m settle in and I'm sure all will become clearer. You may only be able to end up with two pairs at each end once they pair off. For a 100cm tank I would get a small group of Paracyps (nigrippinis or...

No need to feed any more before you go, this will just mean more waste in the water which wont be good if you are away! Just feed as normal before you go and feed as normal when you are back. For 4 days they will be fine. I have left fish for 2 weeks without any problems before.

I think its bit harsh to just jump on someone because they have two frontosa in a community. For a start, being in the UK chances are that like most of the country the water is very hard, and perfect for Frontosa. Now while the rest of the fish in the tank are not from the same area many people...

Your water sounds perfect, nice and hard. If you want a sand sifter set up Im not sure shellies would be the best idea, as your tank's footprint is not that large. You need a lot of open sand. Some rockwork in the back corners You could try a stocking something like this perhaps? 3-5...

Yes that is the common description. But many experienced tang keepers/breeders dispute this and regard them as the same species. Personally I am undecided, in terms of size I have seen full grown male hecqui easily as large as meeli. Anyway, very similar in any case so you will probably get a...

I had a pair of Hecqui (which many believe are Meeli) that regularly bred in my 180l tang community. I found that they would start chasing them away/attacking them after about 6-8 weeks. This was because they started a new batch every month or so and I presume were protecting the young. Have...

Like you say they should be in a bigger group. Even if you remove the other male the dominant one will probably still be rough on the females. Are they in the tank with all the other fish in your sig?? Add another 10 or more as soon as you can! :good:

If Essex tapwater is the same as here in London theni ts so hard that the bogwood will have no notable effect on the hardness. Nice colour on your colony, how many do you have in there? I like those big pieces of bogwood as a centre piece, maybe expand the rockpiles at each end though for more...

The more water changes you do the slower the bacteria will catch up as you are taking away their source of 'food' - the waste. Because you are cycling the tank whilst your fish are in it, you will have a delicate balance of letting the bacteria catch up (doing no water changes) and not letting...

It may well do close to 1000lph but it doesnt have anywhere near the capacity for filter media that a lot of externals do. I agree with boboboy that other filters work just as well technically, but I like my filters to last if I am spending good money on them, and Eheims always have for me.

My opinion on externals is if you are going to get one, make it a good one. I have only ever gone for Eheims, mainly because of their reputation with fishkeepers over the years and they have never failed to deliver time and time again. Even my older style cannister filter is still going...

Would probably look quite nice along the back behind the stones....but depends if you want to stay 'bio-type correct' or not. 2 other benefits would be adding cover for other fish once a pair forms and out-competing any algae.

Will take her a bit of time to get used to not only the new male but new surroundings. Give them time to settle down, and hopefully they will form a pair bond. :good:

I had success with tetras of various types....and usually an ancistrus bristlenose of some sort. I have also kept them with some synodontis species but they recognised these as the biggest threat straight away so unless they are large would probably take a beating. :crazy:

Sounds like an irritation of some sort, probably because the tank hasn't gone through a full cycle yet. I would imagine you will get the odd mini-cycle as the tank and filters mature to cope with the bio-load. I would feed very sparingly and monitor readings daily. One observation from your...

On my 90 gallon Tropheus tank I run an Eheim 2028 and an Eheim 2217 with a powerhead for extra circulation. Two 2028s would be plenty of filtration even if overstocked slightly, IMO.

Are they the only fish in the tank? I used to find that without other fish in the tank to defend against the parents would sometimes turn on each other or the young....

Never tried to keep them myself because I like to have other tankmates too. From what I have heard a single tret can be fine with other larger tangs, but trets and leilupi will bully shellies. I would stick with Ventralis, nice big shoal of Cyps and some shellies, would be a wonderful tank. A...

Personally I would pass on the Brichardi and get a small shoal of Paracyps as they will occupy the areas at the top of the rocks, rather than competing with your julies.....

From what I have hear Trets are very aggressive when breeding, and brichardi are also not a good community fish when breeding. Perhaps keeping a single one of these in a tank with a nice large shoal of Cyprichromis, a pair of Julies and some shelldwellers would work well in your 125? Brichardi...

As others have said, not a good idea. While (esp when still young) Frontosas seem pretty timid, in nature they feed on other fish and will generally go for anything that will fit in their mouths, so any Angles/tetras even if it seemed ok to start with would eventually be a tasty snack. A 350...

Fifthed!! Bristlenose plecs (Ancistrus sp) are the way to go...

Agreed, multifasciatus are a colony builder so you can start of with a few any before long have a thriving colony of 20+ with adults and sub adults and fry all living together in the shell bed. if you are after a more active tank then I would suggest these too....

For true shell dwellers and Cyps you dont really need any! However if you fancy putting a few in for aesthetic purposes then I like the worn round boulders, river rocks. or some similar name...

Good place to look would be here, some useful experiences of two colonies: http://tropheusfanatics.invisionzone.com/i...297&hl=reds Some people have had success, some are very against.

Oh don't get me wrong, I have heard of others successfully breed them in 3ft tanks. There is no hard and fast rule with fish as we all know. But I would still suggest 4ft would be better for them, and also this way you can prob have 1 or 2 more breeding males! :good:

Dont mean to rain on the parade but Cyprichromis Leptosoma are a fast shoalnig fish that need a lot of swimming room. They are also quite delicate fish so if they are cramped or unhappy can be prone to stress. In a tank your size a single male will claim about 1-2ft of territory (cubed!)...

You should be fine in a 75 gallon tank. My brother has kept a single hecqui female with Angels, danios ann rummynose tetras, she likes to school around with the Angels like they are best mates! I have kept a single hecqui with a variety of fish and they practically welcome the company... Are...

I would also recommend an additional Eheim external filter...always the best and very reliable. You can pick them up pretty cheap second hand and online sometimes too. Any of the professional or the classic canister ones work very well....