Want to keep a small cichlid species with a big personality? Look no further than Telmatochromis temporalis.
Small cichlid, big personality
Telmatochromis temporalis
A short video tour of the basement fish room showing all nine tanks
Though I have posted photos of all my tanks over time, I have never shown them all at once. I thus decided to take a video of my entire fish room.
Community cichlid tanks and successful breeding
Lots of hobbyists maintain community tanks. Lots of hobbyists also breed cichlids. So, what happens when a breeding pair of one cichlid species occupies the same tank as other cichlid species?
Find your niche
Early yesterday evening, I was looking through the fish list of one of my favorite online vendors. I always eagerly look forward to new fish lists when they come out. After keeping cichlids for more than two decades, I still get excited about the thought of buying new fish. When I look at these lists, I see fish that I would love to work with. Then I am reminded why I don’t. Many years ago, I established a cichlid keeping niche and I’ve stuck to it. Why? Keep reading.
A pristine looking tank isn’t necessary
I have been keeping and breeding cichlids a long time. In fact, I’ve done this for more than 20 years. It is true that pristine water conditions in your tank vastly increase your chances of success – both in fish survival and breeding probability. However, the appearance of the tank itself does not have to mirror the quality of the water in it.
Contest behavior among cichlids
I just read another interesting research article on cichlid behavior. This one involves aggression behavior of Neolamprologus pulcher and Telmatochromis temporalis. I am quite familiar with the latter, having bred them many times.
Tank reshuffle & decisions
If you recall in August, I posted about reducing my Julidochromis dickfeldi stock. That effort is actually just a component of a larger plan, which is to reduce my total number of occupied tanks, replace a couple of tanks, and restock with some species I have not worked with before.
My little community tank irritant
If you follow the blog, you’ve inevitably read about my experience with Telmatochromis temporalis. I still have my breeding pair. Though the female no longer produces any eggs, her and her mate are still mostly inseparable. At only about 2.75″, she’s much smaller than the male. She’s very shy, and it’s really hard to catch her in a spot that I can get a good photo of her. I was partially successful in the top photo because I had just fed the tank, and she was looking for a morsel. The bottom photo actually provides a better view. Yes, she is jet black. Note her small nuchal hump.
A cichlid unknown
One night long ago when feeding one of my tanks, I noticed a very small (~ 1″), solid black colored cichlid venture out from a little crevice and grab a morsel? I stood there watching in utter amazement. Why? There shouldn’t have been any juvenile cichlids or even fry in that tank. It contained no breeding pairs of species…at least I thought. The tank was a 75g community Tanganyikan tank containing leleupis, a male and female Neolamprologus tretocephalus, a lone female Julidichromis marlieri, a lone Eretmodus cyanostictus, two small plecos, some dithers, and three adult Altolamprologus calvus (2x male, 1 female).
The Julidochromis regani nursery
I haven’t posted in a while on my 75g Tanganyikan community tank, so thought I would give an update. The tank currently houses the following: