Impulse buy

[roninmagik1]

Hi, all, went to my local fish farm today, and made an impulse buy, it was labeled as a duboisii maswa cichlid, but after searching on the internet, i think it's Tropheus duboisi Maswa, to be exact. Anyhow, although I managed to find a picture of my little guy and verify what he is, (he's only about an inch big, cool little polka dots all over him), i'm now wondering if i should have gotten him? My tank is a fifteen gallon, one of those designer ones that is tall and thin. (there's not much surface area, but it was free, so i'm not complaining). Anyhow, in this fifteen gallon tank, i had 5 tiger barbs and 1 zebra danio. Today, I added 2 more zebra danios, 3 albino corys, and of course the tropheus maswa. Anyone out there have any experience w/ this type of cichlid? I can't find much information on the internet....The pictures that i found on the internet showed the adults of this species looking completely different, i hope my little guy isn'
t gonna lose his polka dots. Does this type of fish do okay alone? Will a standard staple food diet keep him okay? He seems to be getting along with his tankmates so far, anyhow, thansk in advance, Jason

hehe, i tried a search using tropheus and I found a bunch of info....my little guy does turn ugly and lose his spots!!! Man, and I paid 18 bucks for that little dude too....

 

[thecichlidaddict]

They are also susceptible to bloat, and need very clean water and a specialized herbivorous diet.

 

[roninmagik1]

Thanks for the info, i'm heading to the fish store to buy some vegetarian type fish food =)

He's been getting along surprisingly well w/ everyone else in the tank, seems nice and healthy, eating the standard flake food just like everyone else...but just to be safe, i'll be buying some special stuff for him...we've nicknamed him poke blue =)

 

[bettalove]

The Tropheus Duboisi is my absolute favorite cichlid. Yep, he's going to lose his little poka dots, but he's not going to turn ugly. He'll be pure black with a blue head and either a yellow vertical band or a white vertical band (if he's from Burundi) a little bit past his head when he reaches maturity.

These beautiful fish can be bought in two ways... you can keep just one and shouldn't have aggression problems or you can buy a colony of them, about 15 is usually recommended, to reduce aggression problems, however, for that many, you would need a minimum of a 75 gal with lots of hiding places for them as when you have that many they are very territorial and become more so when they're ready to breed.

As stated above, it needs to be stressed, especially with how expensive they are, that they are herbivoros and feeding them much of anything else can be deadly to them. They also need their water to be very clean at all times.

Here's an article about them that explains things much better.
Tropheus Duboisi

 

[roninmagik1]

Hey Bettalove,

I bought some spirulina pellets, but the albino corys seem more interested than the cichlid, so i bought a clip that i can attach vegetables to, i'm gonna try some romaine lettuce today.. what food, prepared or natural do you use to feed yours?

Thanks, Jason

 

[thecichlidaddict]

A good spirulina flake should be the staple diet. HBH Veggie is an excellent one. Beware of brands that say spirulina on the package but actually contain only a very small portion of it, so read the ingredients.

 

[bettalove]

Hiya Jason,

Thecichlidaddict has given you great advice on the food. I personally prefer flakes over pellets, but I also don't have any other types of fish in my Duboisi tank. I tried zucchini on them, but they didn't seem to like it. It may be because I didn't cook it first. I just peeled it. I plan to try romaine lettuce on them, but to be very honest with you, this is one fish that I get very uptight over when it comes to food. They are known to be very susceptible to bloat and that is my biggest fear considering how much I paid for them. I paid more than you did and bought a colony of them so I have a lot of money invested in them and the idea of losing them because of something I may do wrong makes me very nervous. I think I'll calm down once they reach adulthood and begin to bred.