New to West African Dwarfs

[Geoff Davis]

I am just starting out

with West African Dwarfs. I have P. taeniatus 'nyete' and P. subocellatus 'moanda'

at the moment, as well as some Chromidotilapia guntheri 'Volta'. I would love to see some

panoramics of your tank set-ups to get a better idea of how to aquascape for these fish.

I have found that when I put a few Yellow-tail Congo Tetras in with them they are less shy. Has

anyone had problems with these as dither fish?

I had some eggs laid by the taeniatus,

but only a couple of fry that didn't survive, probaby because the current from my filter was

too strong. I've changed the set-up a little since then, and hopefully future spawns will

survive.

[tjudy]

Nyete is a neat fish... if I ever

get my FTP working again I will post some pictures of teh nyete pair I had a while back with their

spawns. You can link to the pictures over in the gallery of www.cichlidae.info.

Here is

basically how my tanks are set up these days. I use long/low tanks like 33L (48 x13 x 13), 20 L or

a homemade tank that is about 25 gallons (30x12x12). I use 40Br or larger for P. humilis types,

Chromidotilapia, Benitochromis and the Hemichromis species I have, and 20L or 20H for Nanochromis.

I use sand and fine gravel mixed as a substrate, but it is only about 1 cm deep. I use pieces of

driftwood planted with anubias and bolbitus. Some tanks have floating plants for more cover, but

not all. I use very little light and only for a few hours a day. For dithers I use platies in the

tanks with smaller Pelvicachromis or Nanochromis. The larger/rougher species get any of the

african tetras that get larger, such as congo and alestes tetras. I have use UD catfish as

dither/targets in non-breeding tanks. I use stadard 'fish huts' as spawnign caves. I have

used cocnut shells before, and I think that they (or hollowed driftwood undersides) make the best

caves for the species that like to dig.

[Geoff Davis]

My subocellatus

pair had their first eggs hatch today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the fry survive.

There are several congo tetras in the tank with them. It is a 25 gal tank with a lot of cobbles

and two big pieces of driftwood. Should be fairly easy for them to defend the fry.

I

have a 42 gal tank that I will aquascape for the Chromidotilapia guntheri once I get another pair.

I currently have 20 fry that are growing out, slowly.