Another "what fish?" post!

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 13:59:02 GMT, "Jamesy"
wrote:

wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 13:06:30 GMT, "Jamesy"
wrote:


Soooooo, the big (and cliche'd) question is, "Will these fish get along
OK?"

1 trio Iodotropheus Sprengerae
1 trio Labidochromis Caeruleus
1 quartet Metriaclima Estherae
1 quartet Pseudotropheus Demasoni
1 quartet Metriaclima Crabro


Apart from the Labidochromis the males can get a bit aggressive when
they are establishing who is boss.

Thanks for the quick reply, Steve. Could you elaborate on that?

Is "a bit aggressive" at a level that's likely to stress/distress/damage
or - god forbid - kill?


Some Mbuna will kill if given the opportunity. You can usually avoid
this by making sure the others have somewhere to hide. It is important
to arrange rocks up to the surface so small islands are formed.
Another trick is floating plastic pipes but they look terrible.

Also, how long is it likely to take for the "alpha male" to establish
himself?


Depends what you are starting with. With small tank bred fish the boss
will become obvious when he gets to about 2" but he won't cause any
serious trouble until he gets to about 3". With adult wild fish the
boss will be established in about a hour.

Lastly, once the alpha male /is/ established, does the aggression diminish,
or does he constantly defend his position?


He will always have to maintain his position in the hierarchy.


Secondly, I would also like to keep 1 or 2 Synodontis cats (ideally
Angelicus, if they are suited to a Mbuna tank), and a couple of nice
Plec's - which ones would be recommended?

Syndontis angelicus will do OK but aren't they a bit expensive?

Don't care :-P

Seriously though, most fish are so cheap (certainly compared to other pets -
I come from a family of dog breeders, and I'm still amazed when updated to
current prices), I think we tend to think "HOW MUCH!!?!?!?" when presented
with a beautiful, rare fish and an appropriately "beautiful, rare" price
tag!

Also, when you consider just how much we spend on our aquaria set-ups, the
livestock tends to be a small percentage!


When I was into breeding fish the cost of equipment was insignificant
compared with some of the rare wild fish that I just had to invest in!

Steve