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So about a year and a half ago I got a "breeding pair" of these Julidochromis Rengani and was obviously excited. Unfortunately not being home and leaving for college/work I did not have the time to care for them properly and this semester I decided to bring them and the rest of my remaining fish with me to school in a 29g tank (breaking the rule for no bigger than a 10g tank). The tank essentially is a mix match of whatever my mom and dad didnt manage to kill while I was gone: 5 WCMM, 2 ZD, 1 BN plec, the juli pair, 2 flying foxes, and a lonesome khuli loach.

Instead of buying some fancy new flouro tubes I decided to nix the old system and bought three clamp on brooder lights (silver domes) and CFL bulbs to go inside (2-24watt and 1-18watt). I have a ton of DW and rock work in the tank, and it appears that the julis have infiltrated the rocks and made caves

I have a couple problems though:
(1) The Julis are constantly harassing the flying foxes
(2) need a couple more khulis
(3) need to fill out the schools of ZD and WCMM.

As far as the flying foxes should I try to trade/sell/give them away or should I just try rearranging the hardscape and hopefully that reduces territorial dominance?

What numbers do I need to fufill the schools (would the 6 and 6 suffice?)

and lastly does anyone have a good link for info on the Zambian Julidochromis Rengani? I tried a google search but it always either redirected me to another species or was very vague on care.

Thanks!
-Brandon


\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

I put an add on CraigsList to try and sell them and the foxes. If all else fails I'll bust out the 10 gallon for the juliis and set it up for them... and give the foxes to the LFS/trade for something. That way I can try some interesting different species without having to worry about harassment and etc.

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Times like this- Dwindling stock # of schoolings species, is the perfect time to consider a change in species....

Which ones do YOU really enjoy???? Do you want to try something else???? is there something you REALLY want to try??? and what do you have space for???

noones answer for these are going to be the same. But if it was me, this is what I would do... based on my personal preferences

1- keep the 10 as a qt tank.... hide it in your closet...LOL

2- phase out / trade ect... the flying foxes, khuli and danios.

3- bump up the wcmm. I just like them better than the danios. The are VERY similar, but the WC arent as spazzy as the danios... but thats just MY preference. could just let your 2 danios live out their life with the increased number of wc. or get just a few more WC, (2-4) then try a difft schooling fish in with them????

THe CFL's- love em, got them in all my incandescent hoods- got a few of those clip on lamps also- they are GREAT!!!

IME both wcmm and zd do ok in smaller shoals, they're not as insecure as tetras and don't seem to panic as much if they don't have big schools. I've had them by themselves as their older schoolmates die off, and while it's not ideal it saves you having to risk the fish in the hands of someone that doesnt know what they are doing with fish, or worse a LFS. Of course if you have someone that you know and trust that's willing to adopt them and fill in schools that's another matter. If you cant they should do ok the way they are so long as no one is harassing them (or the zd's harassing anyone else!)

Redo the hardscape first before trying to rehouse anyone. Since they're both pretty small fish it may be hard, but if you make little caves and tunnels that the foxes can get into that the julis cant it may help reduce the tension.

^_^

Thanks guys, Yeah I wasn't planning on getting rid of the 10g, was just going to take it home for the time being until I needed it again. I totally love the ZD and WCMM together they seem to school together. As far as the Foxes, they aren't really into caves and have never been even before they were in the same tank... They do like to rest on the tops of the DW but the rock work allows the Juliis to generally take the over the general lower end of the tank which isn't bad but isn't great.

I don't really want to get rid of anything unless they are not doing great and need a new home.

Today, I pulled a few of the DW pieces out to retie some of the anubias and java fern (which I can grow nana petite no problem and it was like dead when I left in late May and when I can home from my summer job they were doing great despite my brother and mother who "hadn't realized the light went out" when my brother lived in my room while I was gone. ANYWAYS, tangent aside, the slight rescape seemed to lessen some of the territorial tension. The Juliis still keep watch of their cave areas but they aren't out and about chasing and harassing the foxes.

So far everything seems to be getting better. I am thinking of ordering some more anubias to tie onto the other DW pieces (I have a TON of Mopani DW after I hit them on clearance at the local P@tco about a year ago).

I am currently running three big air stone balls and two internal filters (the impeller on my HOB went missing in transport) so far I have all the bio filter media just floating about and the tank isn't filled all the way because I am going to have to move its location a couple feet in the next week.

As far as plants I have a couple species of crypts (wendetii, spiralis... i think , and a small one that came unnamed and i never took the time to look it up), a few small dwarf lilies that have been budding off the larger bulb I had and are now forming their own bulbs, two small sword babies, anibias nana petite and what I think is lancelotta but has not had large leaves since I got it but it has a good strong rhizome and roots, and some java fern.

I am thinking of placing an order with bayleesfishees on Auquabid and asking for more crypts, anubias and maybe some apons.

I'm thinking of making this a nice little "tank building blah blah blah" thread to keep everyone interested and maybe get some better feedback. I am not going to make any livestock decisions until I get a chance to visit the LFS up here by school and see what they have.

Thanks again for the feedback HCA and Babel. Its great to be back on the site!
-Brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

well I guess i misunderstood your first post....

Some better defined territories might help those disputes your having.... more plants will help.

would love to see some picts!!!!

"hadn't realized the light went out"
heh sounds familiar

Glad the rescape worked, more plants would definitely help. I'd say stick to the easy stuff that you know, tanks are great but you don't want the maintenance taking up too much of your time right now.

Might ask the googles if there are any clubs around school, they might have fish that the shops arent carrying. We picked up some humpheads at a local auction and they're some of my favorite fish right now. They're not colorful, which is probably why I've not seen them in the shops before, but I love their behavior and how they skitter and hop around the tank.

Pics would be good .

^_^

Hey thanks, the Juliis have resumed some of the harassment but definitely not quite to the degree and a little scale scuff one of the foxes had on it has healed up nicely since its been given a break. I don't currently have a camera with the exception of the crappy one on my phone (which I'm planning on getting an upgrade this weekend {fingers_crossed}and then work on a camera) but I'll try to borrow one for such an occasion!

I'l still trying to work on a plant deal and I haven't found any clubs in the area which is a disappointment but luckily we have the internet these days to order and etc!

I did develop some black beard algae (or so I think) on one of my driftwood pieces, I was wondering if there was anything that would eat this or if I just take it out and scrub it off if that will suffice?

Thanks,
-Brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Id just give it a good scrubbing.

Thanks, I'll try to get to that next week, I'm heading home for the weekend so the tank is going to be watched by my roommate who was given very detailed instructions on feeding and the lights are on a timer so all should be good!

I tried getting in touch with baylee but he stopped emailing me back. I think I'll try looking at the LFS when I'm home and see what I can get there and go from there...



\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

just keep trying...he gets swamped in emails

just read threw some of his recent posts/ auctions. He's temporarily "daylighting", and if you didnt know it- has health issues... he's behind on emails and trying to catch up on them. It took me a couple days to hear back!

if you dont want to wait- get in touch with the others we talked about... hope that helps!!!

Well I finally got a hold of Cory a few weeks ago but I'm still waiting for financial aid at school to finish going through so I haven't been able to place an order, although yesterday I did finally find a decent LFS (although a bit pricey) they have great stock and are very knowledgable. I can't wait til my money comes in so I can buy a few fish from the guy there, he's probably the best LFS manager I've met thus far.

Anyways the Jullis have utterly relocated an entire area of gravel around their little cave and made a pile in the front left corner. I think I am going to let it be though I figure nature led them to do that for a reason.

The tension between the foxes and jullis has also not come back so I am happy with that. One of the white clouds is looking a bit on the ill side so I am watching him closely, something I didn't notice until I was acclimating two red platies I bought yesterday.

The platies had a hard time acclimating but I put them in last night after the tank lights went out and this morning they were a bit lethargic... although this evening they are all over the place. Can't wait til they grow up and maybe give me some fry (although I expect the Jullis to munch on most of the fry).

My plans for the tank once I get my financial aid:
(A) fill out the White cloud school if I can find the non-albino strain for fairly cheap (I might need to buy them back home because the LFS up here charges 4$ for the albinos).
(B) relocate the foxes and the jullis to a more suitable tank ( I think I am going to place a free add on Craigslist of the foxes to anyone with a 50 gallon tank or larger and try to see if the LFS manager would be interested in trading the Julli pair for some dithers or some plants).
(C) Get a new filter (my old HOB I lost the impeller in the move and a replacement along with the replacement top cover was more expensive then buying the filter new).
(D) get some fish that can help me deal with the string algae I'm dealing with or see if a stem plant can out compete it for nutrients.
(E) Most of this probably wont happen til the spring due to the necessity to tear the tank down over winter break (they shut the power off in the dorms over winter break).

Thats it for now.

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Algea- tell Cory, and get some moss balls or broken moss balls ( tie them down like you would moss), only plant ive ran across to outcome it is moss balls or duckweed...If you want duckweed, Ill send ya some

Good white clouds are hard to find anymore... and I dont like the albinos , so understand your frustration.

Filter- Got tired of the HOB clogging.. after the duckweed, and have been slowly switching all tanks over to sponge or box... some bought, some DIY.. and Trying to get rid of the duckweed in the mean time