Re: Nannochromis tranvestitus

[Frauley/Elson <fraulels@minet.ca>]

Jacques BESSON wrote:
> 
> I would set up a tank of 80*40*30 cm (96 liters ) to  kep Nanochromis
> transvestitus.
> My questions are :
> 0 is the size of the tank enough for this fish ?
> 1 the soil : sand or little gravel ( les than 2 mm ) ?
> 2 the filtration : if gravel is good , what about UGF?
> 3 heating : under the soil or normal ?
>  4 how many fishes : a couple or a male and two females or 2 couples ?
>  4 others inhabitants : I think that's good to have 5 Nannostomus
> beckfordi for the upper level of the tank and I hesitate to add up
> Nematobrycon palmeri or a couple Pelvicachromis taeniatus for exemple.
> What do you mean about this ?
> Many thanks for replays and advices
> J.Besson
> PPS Sorry for all this question although I've seen the archives of the
> thekrib on nannochromis tranvestitus

Jacques,
My recipe is what has worked for me.
They dig, therefore a fairly deep (5-6cm) sand substrate is good. I
would keep one pair in a tank that size. I think taeniatus would be
killed if the transvestitus decided to breed, and I find a lot of
aggression among these fish. I never succeeded with multiple pairs or
trios. After the first successful spawning by my fish, I had a lot of
transvestitus to experiment with.
A trick that stimulated breeding was to bury a cave in the sand. The
fish excavate under flat rocks, so you can direct them into producing a
cave you can see into, but they feel very happy with as a territory.
When they could dig, they did, and it seemed part of the spawning
ritual.
For this reason, I would avoid an undergravel system. I heated with a
standard submersible heater, and filtered with large sponges. I had no
trouble with the fish, although they were hard to spawn. The young were
very sensitive and demanding.
Their water should be very soft. They spawned in rainwater here.
If I remember correctly, I had both Aphysemion biteniatum and later
Epiplatys sp as companions. Nannostomus would be a good choice too.
Nematobrycon claim territories on the bottom, so I don't like keeping
them in with cichlids.
Gary




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