Got Calvus; need help!

[k9outfit]

Got four ~1/2" Calvus fry a week ago and plopped them into one of my fry tanks (15 gal, has 20 or so fryeri fry). 1 Calvus died by Thursday morning, due to harrassement by the other Calvus. So, I moved the big bully to a different fry tank, but ended up having to seperate the last 2 also. (It was suggested on another forum that the loss may have been due to poor water quality <_< ; that's definitely not what caused it's demise.)

For starters, I thought Calvus were mild mannered (though on C-F someone did mention they are to other fish, not their own species)? So, some of my questions are... Do I have to keep them seperate except when bringing male & female together for spawning? (I thought they raise the fry together?) Can I keep a few together in a large tank once they're older (90 or 180)? Should I raise them seperately or try to put them in a larger tanks and raise them as a group? Male/female ratio? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Edited September 6, 2005 by k9outfit

[sammyswife]

Sorry to hear about your luck with these little guys!

I have done a little reading on these as we have never kept them and from what I have read they can be kept together wtih no aggression in a colony or in pairs. I have also read they are a very slow growing fish and need at least two years to reach sexual maturity. They also don't do well with fast moving fish so maybe your fry are a little to active and it is stressing them out.? They also are not the fastest fish and from the info I have read you have to keep a close eye on them to make sure they are recieving enough food, perhaps they were not able to get enough food with the competition of the fryeri fry? Do you have any hiding spots for these guys as they like to go through rocks hunting for food (eggs and fry) and such in the wild so maybe they need a little shelter?

Here are a couple of links for more information.

http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/fishpages...calvus_blk.html

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/a_calvus.php

HTH,

Amy

[Nyasa]

It's unikely to be conspecific aggression. I am growing out 4 calvus in a 10 gallon tank myself and have seen little in the way of conspecific aggression other than the occasional chase. I even added a N. pulcher and a J. transcriptus pemba. These two are rapidly outgrowing their calvus tankmates and will likely have to move back to larger quarters.

Calvus can be kept in pairs, trios or even small groups if space permits. The males can be hard on the females when they are at a size to breed. My calvus are about 1 1/2" now and still getting along fine.

I suspect it may have been the stress of their other tankmates. Malawi are entirely different in temperament from Tangs. Malawi tend to be way more active, almost frantic in their character. I keep shells in my tank that the calvus use regularily to hide in during water changes etc. This may help them cope with the activity going on in the tank.

What type of calvus do you have?

HTH, David.

[Tang]

Hey Guys

I have kept and raised both calvus and compressicips now for a number of years. I have kept them in groups until they were about 1 1/2 " - 2" ready for sale. I have encountered the odd bit of fighting between them, but nothing that has caused death yet. Currantly have a number of different groups of fry together in different tanks largest colony (Altolamprologus compressiceps "Kasakalawi") is around 200 + fish in a 255 gallon tank. These range from 1/2" to 2". I am sure when they get old enough to start thinking about breeding this could cause some in fighting. In the meantime that large of a group looks pretty cool cruizing around the tank at feeding time. All of the adults I have kept are in groups, some trios, some pairs, some larger groups. Again the occasional battle, but no death yet.

Tang :ml: