Just over a month ago, I purchased eight Altolamprologus compressiceps, four each of Kitoti (black) and Kagunga (redfin). I posted about them on July 11th. Since that post, I made some modifications to their tank.
For starters, I added more rocks and caves, including calvus breeding caves. Though the fish are still juveniles and not mature enough to spawn, I decided to add these spawning caves, so they’ll get used to them over time.
Naturally, all eight of the fish looked almost identical (other than some slight size differences) out of the shipping bag. Now that they have settled in, you can begin to distinguish the two color variations. In the photo immediately above, you can see the color differences between a Kitoti black (left, 2/3 off tank bottom facing left) and a Kagunga redfin (right, 2/3 off the bottom facing right).
I made the mistake of leaving too many shells in this tank when I set it up for this species. Previously, it housed a small colony of Neolamprologus caudopunctatus (redfin). There is one adult female caudo still in this tank, but she doesn’t need all these shells. The compressiceps will use shells as shelter until their too large to fit. This often makes it difficult to count them because several hide in the shells.
This tank also contains a couple of different danio species, which serve as dithers. I actually like danios because 1) they’re hardy, 2) they school, and 3) they’re very active. I have them in four of my tanks.
The photo shows only the left 2/3 of the tank. It’s 48″ long and 18″ wide (same footprint as a standard 75g, but 12″ deep instead of 18″).
Though there are rocks and caves along the backside of the tank, end-to-end, all the compressiceps prefer the left side of the tank. I am speculating that this is because the filter outflow is just below the surface on the right side of the tank. The outflow is directed toward the surface, so most of the water movement is there. For some reason, that must bother them.