Tropheus

[Anonymous]

Never been a huge fan of africans other than shell dwellers. I have been really interested in tropheus species lately - anyone kept any for a long period of time and can give me a good start to reading on their care? I know they are primarily herbivores and you need to avoid meaty foods thus a species tank is reccomended. What kind of stocking levels could I ahve in say a 75 gallon ? Any other fish that mix well with them? Any plants hardy enough to keep with them?

 

[Anonymous]

Ahh...tropheus. The nemisis of many an African fish keeper.
They do well in bare tanks, and don't generally mix well with other species. The smallest nitrate spike is enough to bring on a bout of bloat that can wipe the entire tank out if you're not on your toes.
In a 75 gallon you could keep a single male T. moorii and 6 or so females. There are MANY morphs of moorii, so only get one type to prevent interbreeding. Also, you shouldn't mix T. duboisi and T. moorii in most cases.
I don't personaly like keeping tropheus in tanks smaller than 90 gallons or so, I find the inherent problems with keeping the species are just magnified in smaller tanks.

Cheers
Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Hmm, they sound really delicate. So did you just do water changes several times a week to keep the nitrates down? I could possibly do some kind of freshwater refugium with some hardier fast growing plants perhaps?

 

[Anonymous]

Yep, I did a small water change once a week. The refugeum idea is interesting, I've never tried it on a freshwater tank.

Cheers
Jim

 

[Anonymous]

I think I'll do a species tank for a polypterus or a lungfish instead, I'll just admire the tropheus in other peoples tanks.