JayWho

Good point, on being able to just take it out. I am just worried that I'll go to sleep, and fish I paid money for will be missing when I wake up... lol I guess I'll just have to move it over and see what happens, because I don't intend on keeping it in the 10 gallon regardless of the circumstances.

So, I recently took in some fish from a friend who had a tank that was leaking, and have had to juggle my tanks slightly. I currently have what is listed in my signature. Basically I added a 14" pleco, a 3" Firemouth and a 5" Green Terror to my collection. I currently have the Green Terror isolated in a 10 gallon, as I don't know if it would try eating my smallest Lelupi and Dickfeldi cichlids, who are 2" or so. It has a sponge filter run by a small air pump, a heater, but no lid. It is very timid, and after two weeks still does not come out when people are near the tank. It has only eaten a pellet or two of food when trying to feed it, because it shies away so much. I originally had a Betta in the 10 gallon as well (the original inhabitant) until the Green Terror got comfortable enough to think the Betta was food, and started chasing it when it could. I gave the Betta to a friend, and have gotten feeder mollies for my other 10 gallon tank, since the Green Terror seems to want to eat fish. However, with 3 feeders in its tank, it has only managed to catch one. (at least I assume it caught it - I haven't found a dead molly around the tank anywhere; one of the other feeders jumped out, and the "lucky" bastard landed in a pail I use for water changes that still had water in it - I use the word lucky hesitantly, as I just put it back in the tank with the Green Terror). I am wondering if putting the Green Terror in the 50 gallon with the rest of the fish (and much more activity) might "bring it out of its shell" and sort of force it to be less timid, and also hopefully it will eat my NLS flake and pellets at feeding time. My thinking is that instead of being in isolation, the activity of the other fish will cause it to be less shy. Now at the same time, this worries me, that it might go after the smaller cichlids that were about the size of the Betta. Considering they are african cichlids and aggressive by their own rights, and the Green Terror could barely catch a molly, let alone a Lelupi or Dickfeldi... Do you think I should risk moving the Green Terror to the 50 gallon tank where I know it will be happier, but might put my smaller fish in jeopardy of being eaten? What are your thoughts, those who have kept mixed cichlid tanks, or have some experience with Green Terrors? I'd love some advice before I go ahead and conduct the experiment on my own...

I bought a piece of driftwood off a member, and it had what seemed like a short, slimy fur coat on it. The plecos ate it all eventually. Never did find out what it was though.

I can only speak for the Rena Filstar XP2, but I'm fairly sure that most models of canister filter, when installed correctly will not leak - power on, or off. If it doesn't leak while it runs, it won't leak if it's not running. I've never had a HOB filter leak either (I've had them spill over where the intake pipe is, back into the tank - but never enough that they spilled onto the floor). I've owned many models of Aqua Clears and a couple bio-wheel style (which I don't recommend). And when it comes to neglect, I've had my filters go months without maintenance and never had any issues. I've had heaters kill my fish though, by never shutting off while on vacation. Came back to the "unkillable" giant danios, my pair of kribensis cichlids and nothing else.

Figured I should post an update. New Years Day momma finally left the shell. There has been no sign of fry or eggs that I have been able to detect. I was never able to see through the shell with a flashlight, as it was just too thick for the light to penetrate. Hard to say if the pair will try again - I hope so. They still seem to be more or less paired up, though since I picked the shell up and inspected it closely after I found she'd abandoned it, she hasn't gone back to it. I'm thinking I may find some more shells, or get a few pvc elbows and see if those entice them any.

One week update - if I took a picture, it would look exactly like the ones I already posted. She's still in the shell. Hoping I see some changes over the next day or so.

I have never been a fan of goldfish or angelfish.

What are comp's fry raising behaviour? Will they care for them? Protect them? Are they on their own, and need to be moved if I want to save them? I have been having trouble finding this information on the internet so far...

"She" has wedged herself into a shell in the tank. Didn't come out at feeding time either. Hopefully this is breeding behaviour and not her trying to escape being picked on; though I haven't really seen any evidence of that. (I was at work the entire day yesterday though, so there could have been new developments...) I'm wondering if the other comp who couldn't help but get his face in every picture I took might be the father, if it is breeding behaviour. That shell is also very small (I'm surprised she's that far in there to be honest) to be using as a breeding cave - I figured there must be a better spot somewhere in the tank as there are crevices and nooks everywhere, so I'm going to have to make a better cave somehow and see if that makes it more obvious. I'm thinking a pvc elbow with one end capped or something of the like?

So, it seems as if the "female" (assuming she is, in fact, female) is checking out the goods of the other males. She has been hanging out with all 3 of the other comps, in their caves, where they normally don't let the other cichlids go... I'm not sure if there is any breeding going on, but it sure seems as if there may be in the future...

Yay Jen! Been telling her about these forums, and glad to see she's finally on them! She's where I got my albino BN's from!

Yeah, that was what I saw in a couple videos, and read about being recommended. There's not enough guarding of the crevice for me to really believe there could be eggs or mating happening - but then the two comps will hang out together, which I have never seen happen before.

I have a pair of altolamprologus compressiceps that are behaving differently. I bought 4 from Big Al's a couple months ago. They may have grown 0.5" since I've had them, and are 3-3.5" long. I'm not sure what the sexes of them are. They generally have their own territories in the tank and don't cross boundaries much, keeping to themselves, except maybe at feeding time - otherwise the more dominant one chases the lesser. They have a "totem pole" hierarchy as far as I can tell, with one alpha, a second, a third, and fourth. There is one who I would deem "bottom of the totem pole" and will be chased away by the other 3, or take on the submissive/protective curled body posture the comps do. I am now wondering if this one is a female, because it is hanging out with one of the other comps (who I now wonder if it is a male - it sits #3 on the totem pole typically) near a skinny crevice in some dry live rock. "She" is the smallest of the four, probably slightly smaller than 3"; I would say "she" is slightly more "bullet-shaped" as females are supposed to be. "She" has wedged herself into the crevice a couple times, but when I've seen it it's when "he" gives her a hit on the side (or at least I think "he" is hitting her - it happens so fast, "she" may be avoiding it"), so I'm not sure if it has anything to do with mating, or if "she" is just trying to escape. This is the first time I have seen this kind of behaviour or two comps hanging out together in any way. I'm worried that I may have 3 males and 1 female; the males have staked out their territories, and have left nearly nothing for the female, who is getting bullied into crevices. However, something about the behaviour seems different to me, which makes me wonder if it's mating. They are in a spot that is near the corner of the tank, with good water flow, and not all of their behaviour has been aggressive. Having not kept these species before I am unfamiliar with their tendencies. Are they mature enough to breed at that size? Anyone have some ideas?

I love how the comps loom in the background much of the time and look sinister.

Thought I would share some pics of my tank since I haven't done so yet. Full stock list is in my sig. I just added a syno. petricola and 2 juli. dickfeldi (thanks Jayba!), and rearranged all of the rockwork (mostly I removed a lot of it; it was a massive cluttered pile before - this layout also allows for better waterflow), so the water is a touch cloudy still. I'm not sure if it's the new fish or the rearrangement of the rockwork, but the tank seems much more active now, and I've never seen the synodontus so much, even with the lights on (it could also be because of their new "big brother" petricola who is twice the size of the largest lucipinnus... ) Crushed aragonite substrate, two buried pvc pipes, and a mix of dry live rock (from an old saltwater setup) and lava rock with holes drilled in it. A couple other random rocks, a few shells, a piece of driftwood and a giant vallisneria that is slowly melting as various fish nip at it... Filtration is a Rena Filstar XP2, a powerhead running a Hydro-Sponge V, and a second powerhead mostly for water movement as the sponge on the intake is just to provide a little mechanical filtration. 250W submersible heater (forget the brand). Fluorescent lighting; nothing special - it's old and loud and could use replacing. I'll eventually move to LED's just for the power savings. The giant danios never really stay still long enough to take a good pic with an iphone, but you can see them in the full tank shots. (I used them to cycle the tank, since they're cheap and typically hardy fish; I've got nowhere else for them at the moment, so they're staying for now) All the fish are juveniles, except the BN pleco and the petricola. And next time I take pics, I'll at least clean the glass... lol

Looks good! Makes me jealous.

Do you have to be a member to attend this? It sounds interesting! (if not, maybe video the talk and post it? )

You are going to have some happy fish.

Looking forward to the rest of the build! Mind posting the details of the tank, sump and filtration?

I really want to try something like this at some point. Any updates on the build? Would love to see more pics!

I'd do Frontosa. Tanganyikans, and get relatively large...two of the things you may be looking for. But, I love Tangs, so I'm biased.

Either, or both. Drip tray would be superior though.

Substitute plastic dish scrubbies (dollarstore) for bioballs... It's exactly the same idea as the biomedia you can buy by the square foot at Aquarium Illusions, but a fraction of the cost. (supposedly superior to bioballs in surface area as well) *Edit* Just realized you're in Calgary - Aquarium Illusions is in Edmonton; so you may not be familiar with it. The biomedia they sell is essentially a 3D web of plastic that can be cut into any shape, very similar to sponge foam. Hence why dish scrubbies are a cheaper alternative.

I wondered if increased aggression might become an issue if live foods were introduced. (from my experience, most fish tend to have slightly increased aggression when you start feeding them live stuff, so I should have figured as much) Good to know. My fish are on a diet of NLS flake, and cichlid pellets. They get frozen brine shrimp, or very small amounts of bloodworms once every week or two. It's not out of necessity; I just have the extra tank, and the fish to do it potentially. It's just because I could more than anything. Thanks for the opinions thus far!

I was curious if anyone breeds feeder fish for their Africans, and what kind(s)? I've got a 10g with a betta and a dalmation molly. I was thinking of getting a few more female mollies and a male or two, and then potentially having free food for my africans in the form of dalmation molly fry? (specifically my compressiceps, as web info tells me they are fish-eaters) Thoughts? Suggestions?