My Shell Dweller Journey

[Salam]

Good luck swapping those filters over. Towels at the ready

Oh my, shouldn't have googled the featherfins. Beautiful! Stop putting ideas in my head, I got enough tanks

Anyway, got a bit of an update and don't know what to do next. First of all, after adding another batch of 4ppm ammonia yesterday, this morning it is 0 again, same as nitrites, so it looks like I am truly cycled.

Been to the LFS and they have julidochromis marlieri in and they are big enough to sex them. I love their blue dorsal fin! They have ordered me six ocellatus, but they won't get them for another two weeks at least. Oh my, the prices of those fishies, it's a good job it is only a one off. £7 each!

Basically, I want to end up with one pair of julis and two pairs of occies, because most likely I'll have babies in the future anyway.

I now have two options:
A: Pick up two julis on Saturday and hope they pair up. Add the six unsexable occies in two weeks or whenever they are there and hope I get another two pairs of them and return the remaining two.
B: Wait two weeks and add all eight fish in total in one go.

I would rather go for option A, but I am worried that my good bacteria will die off as two julis won't produce much waste. Or doesn't it matter? At the moment the filter can cope with 4ppm ammonia, I am just worried that I might get a mini-cycle once I add six occies. Although then again, the occies are going to be so juvenile and tiny, surely if I keep on top of water changes it should be fine? Help! Really confused.

 

[Lufbramatt]

Think I would do option B, gives them all a chance to establish territories at the same time, in case the julies have issues with new fish appearing in their tank.

£7 is cheap for occies, they're £9.50 each in my LFS and another shop nearby wanted £12.95 for them! Still, I think they're great for entertainment value.

 

[Salam]

But won't the julies have their territory in the rock area and the occies in the shells? I wasn't worried about territories at all until now as they all have their own areas. I'm so impatient and I want them all now...

 

[Lufbramatt]

yeah kinda . . . but they wont stay in one area all the time. My julies swim out in the open a lot and mosey around the sand, the shellies chase them away (the julies like munching on the algea that grows on the edges of the shells) and one of my male brevis likes to chill out in the rocks overlooking his shell, and will chase the julies away from there as well, luckily there are two big rock piles lol.

Be prepared for a few days of angry fish while they work out whos boss and who belongs where, but they will settle down pretty quickly

 

[Salam]

Oh ok, I didn't know that but it actually sounds really cool. Much more interaction. Looks like I'll have to wait. Can you hear my big impatience sigh?

 

[Lufbramatt]

Yeah tahts the cool thing about tanganyikans, because they hold a territory the fish will defend it, so you see lots of fin flaring ("I'm bigger than you!") and fish squaring up to each other but it very rarely develops into more than that.

 

[Salam]

It sounds like a great tank to have, can't wait! Ha ha, I'm bigger than you, yeah. They are all tiny

Anyway, I have been googling and I am so confused now. Some resources say to add the full load of fish after a fishless cycle (in my case wait until occies are here) others say it is safer to add them at a time, so in my case add julies first and then the occies after. I really want all fish to be safe, especially considering their price, and I don't want to lose any. Will my filter be able to handle the full load in one go or should I just put up with the territorial quarrels and add the julis this weekend? Won't they argue anyway?

 

[Lufbramatt]

You'll be fine to put them all in. If your filter can handle 4ppm of ammonia, the fish won't produce anywhere near that much at any one time as the filter will be breaking it down continuously. Especially with the light stocking of a tanganyikan tank.

 

[kiriyama]

Nice, well done, good news about the store credit, saves you a lot of hassle. Its a shame some of the Tangs are so pricey, interesting fish to keep. I had an order with LFS for cyps and paracyps a good while back, they were czech bred so wern't to expensive, the order arrived and only 2 of the paracyps surivived, the cyps looked "ropey" so I left it with the shop....... Aquarist Classifieds turns up some nice finds from time to time, worth a we look now and again...............................


Cheers, Sean

 

[Salam]

Thanks guys. Will go to the LFS today and ask them to hold the julis a little longer for me so I can add them all at the same time. Have been on Aquarists classifieds before, found my pygmys there (for another tank obviously).

 

[rifty]

Why are Tangs so expensive? I was after some exLamprologus caudopunctatus and Maidenhead wanted 16 quid each for some! i got them for £2 from a breeder! also paracyps are about 22-30 each in europe a tenner??? why!!!

 

[Lufbramatt]

Limited demand I guess- they're a bit more specialist than guppies and platys etc, so they stick around in stock tanks for longer, taking up space that could be used for fish that sell through faster. Most tangs hardly have much in the way of bright colours going on (especially in the shop tanks where they always look washed out- the comp I bought a few weeks ago was a pale cream colour in the shop, after being home for a few weeks he's a deep orangey yellow) and arn't likely to appeal to someone starting out in the hobby in the same way as a betta or angelfish would. Plus I think that imported fish generally are either wild caught (the mega expensive ones) or imported from german or czech breeders rather than the asain suppliers that tend to be cheaper. I understand from talking to fish shop owners etc. that this means that the fish in the hobby are generally better quality though as less inbreeding goes on.

 

[Lufbramatt]

Have you got the shellies yet?

 

[Salam]

No

I went last Sunday and they said they'd order them that Monday (so six days ago) and from there it will take one to two weeks. So hopefully soon, getting impatient Still dosing ammonia to keep it going.

 

[gregswimm]

No

I went last Sunday and they said they'd order them that Monday (so six days ago) and from there it will take one to two weeks. So hopefully soon, getting impatient Still dosing ammonia to keep it going.

Why don;t you just feed the tank? It will keep your cycle going and help grow algae for your julies to nibble on :3

Edit: My J.merlieri are constantly grazing. Also if you are having trouble getting your fish I have a pile of juvies 3-4 cm im willing to part with

Edit #2: On seccond thought J.marlieri (i dunno about others) might be too much for your tank. My pair took more than 1/2 of my 4foot tank, while it was packed with 6 L.ornatipinnis trying their hardest to hold their territory, and 3 A.comps fearing for their lives. But then again 4 ornatipinnis paired up and sent the remaining 2 ornies to the top. With J.marlieri females are dominant/defend territory males care for the babies, you might want to see if this is the case with what ever julie you end up with.

And on that note, I would suggest some A.comps in stead of the julies, much much much more community friendly. They have an appetite for fry, but you will have more than you know what to do with.

A neat little fact I found about shellies, ocellatus and others, which i cannot remember prefer to burry the shells to open directly up, while Ornatipinnis, and others prefer shells on their side (pointy bit down). Ill try and find the paper...

The paper, read for yourself :3