Pictures Of My New Colony Of T. Moorii Mpulungu

[Fish Geek]

Hello All,
I got

this colony of 15 (tried to buy all 25, but someone outbid me on 10 style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif ) on March 15, 2009 at the Atlanta Area Aquarium Society's fish auction. I

have two holding females! I have two bulls in the tank, but the one on the left side of the

tank has successfuly spawned with the females and they have that side pretty much all to

themselves.The bull on the right seems to primarily pick on the other members of the colony who are

all clustered in his territory. I set up kind of a "neutral zone" in the middle of the

tank. I just decorated this tank fully a couple of days ago and added alot more territories, and

it seems the aggression has elevated. Any ideas as to why? The dominant males stayed on the sides

they had chosen prior to the addition of more territories. The one without the girlfriends is

doing most of the chasing and skirmishing.
The temp is and was 78F. pH is 8.5. The GH and

KH are fairly low-I just added some crushed coral to substrate and into the canister and power

filters, so they should rise soon. They eat the Soft Food Spirulina pellets by HBH and Spirulina

Flakes by Ocean Nutrition, a couple times a week, I feed them green seaweed. I feed small amounts

3-4 times daily. They're in a 125 by themselves and I do 50% water change every 7-8 days.
Anything else you guys suggest I do? It's been years since I had a colony of these

hellions, and I am enjoying them tremendously. I'm already planning to sell a lobe of my liver

to get a nice, large colony of WC T. moorii nkonde yellow style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif .
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Ptolemyvii/008-1.jpg
Dominant male on left side of tank with one of his

ladies
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Ptolemyvii/011-1.jpg
Left side of tank again.
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Ptolemyvii/012-1.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Ptolemyvii/007-1.jpg
<img src="http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Ptolemyvii/015-

1.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Ptolemyvii/005-2.jpg
This is the right side of the tank
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Ptolemyvii/002-2.jpg
I cleaned the glass before I took these pix. What a beauty, though, eh?
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Ptolemyvii/020.jpg
I'll post pics of the fry when they're released. The first female has been holding

since 03/21. I plan on keeping them to increase numbers in colony.
Thanks,
JJ.

[Mrfiremouth]

Thanks for the

pictures and the experience.
Re-aquascaping a tank always increases aggression as the

hierarchy needs to be re-established within the group.
Once the Alpha males determine their

territories aggression should go down some.

The aquascape is interesting, but looks like

it could collapse. I suggest the use of Plumbers Epoxy to glue the rocks together. That would

prevent them from sliding or falling over. Here is a link to the Putty....
http://www.acehardware.com/sm-ace-plumbers...pi-1273357.html (http://www.acehardware.com/sm-ace-plumbers-epoxy-putty-12-pack--pi-1273357.html)

[Fish Geek]

Fire Mouth,
Believe it or not, it's stable. The foundation is brick and sunken into the substrate and

the flat pieces are arranged so that they don't flap or wobble back and forth on their

pedestals. I prefer this type of "condo" aquscaping so I can watch them easier. I

don't like lumps of boulders, I am paranoid that they'll collapse and they weigh a

significant amount more than the materials I have used. Also, the displacement value the large

bulky rock represents is a little disconcerting for me, I like to have as much water in the tanks

as possible.
I really want to get lace rock and limestone (Texas holey rock), but I

can't seem to find any out here yet. The members of my club who have it either live far away or

I missed them with the materials. Then the aquascaping won't look quite so obviously

compartmentalized. But since I've been decorating my African (mbuna and rift and Vics) tanks

similarly to this for years, it's not so unusual to me. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif I incorporated this a little in my SA tank, but larger for the Uaru's and

they like it tremendously. Cubby holes they can go into but still keep an eye on what's going

on outside the tank.
They want breakfast!!
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Ptolemyvii/002-3.jpg
Have a good day!
JJ.

[Pam Chin]

Fish Geek,

Nice,

I am glad to see you are enjoying your Tropheus, they are so much fun! I like to feed them

frozen peas, they like to have a soccer game with them. Just one or two until they catch on.

Just be aware, Tropheus are addicting!!

Cichlid Power!
Pam