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“Bigger is better!” is what so many aquarists say with respect to aquarium sizes. I don’t disagree with that, generally speaking. However, sometimes large tanks aren’t practical considering available space, cost, etc.
Last year (2022) I posted about making some changes in the fish room. Specifically, I was planning to downsize, both in number of tanks and tank sizes. I also planned to begin working with some species I’ve never worked with.
A few months ago, I began to downsize and rearrange my fish keeping operation. One goal was to move a lone male Julidochromis dickfeldi out of a 20g long tank into a 33g long, so I could close down the 20g.
This week, I moved a lone female Julidochromis dickfeldi from a 75g tank to a 33g community tank (photo above), which already housed a lone male dickfeldi. The hope is that the two will pair up.
I’m posting this one about fry because there are a couple of interesting observations from my 33g long. This is the tank that has (or had) three Julidochromis dickfeldi and five ‘Lamprologus’ ocellatus. I lost a couple of occies from what I think was aggression – one male and one female. I now have two males and a female. The deceased female was a bit of a runt, and I had been concerned about her for a while. Out of the original five, she was by far the smallest. She just never grew much. She got ostracized, and I think one of the paired dickfeldi got her.
If you recall my post a few days ago on the excitement of cichlid spawning behavior, it included the above photo of my recently set up 33g long tank. In that tank are six ‘Lamprologus’ ocellatus and three Julidochromis dickfeldi.
One of the absolute greatest joys of cichlid keeping is witnessing spawning behavior. Because I have new fish from an order I placed several months ago, I have been anxiously awaiting some pairings and subsequent spawning. All the fish I received were older juveniles or sub-adults, so I knew that pairing up would begin in a few months. You can read about the new fish in this post from back in May.
If you read my post on May 9th, then you know I ordered some new fish. They delivered on May 15 and still look great. Currently, they’re all in quarantine. Yes, I quarantine all my new fish regardless of where they come from. My typical quarantine is 4-6 weeks. Many illnesses and maladies will reveal themselves within that timeframe.
Back in March, I posted about losing a seal on my 55g and about 40 gallons of water as a result (yes, that sucked). That was my dwarf mbuna tank. Since I moved all those fish to another tank, I was left with a 55g stand and no tank for it. Yes, I could have resealed the 55g but, because I get a discount on my tanks, it was cheaper for me to buy a new one than reseal the 55g (see my post on time vs. money). So I bought one, a 33g long to be exact. The 55g and the 33g long have the same footprint and bottom dwellers are planned for the new tank. I don’t need the extra height of a 55g, which would end up being wasted space. Yes, I could get some dithers, Cyps, or some other mid-water occupants but…