WTB: demasoni, goby, petricola, BN pleco - Page 2

Wblaze · 08-15-2012, 10:06 AM

I have one 2.5" Demonsoni I could sell you. It has great color and is left from a group that was born in the tank when I kept them.

Tony · 08-15-2012, 10:27 AM

Jason - If you haven't seen it yet, there are two very good writeups from members on P. demasoni over in the CARES section. They will give you a better idea or the requirements of these little guys.

http://www.capitalcichlids.org/forum...152#post128152

WendyFish · 08-15-2012, 8:49 PM

Thanks for linking, Tony.

To this specific scenario, I'd make a couple addendums to my general post from the CARES thread....

There are two specific issues here.

The one you're going to commonly get grief on is aggression/stress in a 30g tank. The ratio of total fish to calm colony (30something to 18) that I experienced should be one more cautionary tale in a column of MANY, but it could be a worst case, given the shipping stress. Nonetheless, even locally sourced demasoni can be hard to get settled, and a smaller tank could exacerbate that.

The one that you may not think about is water quality. Demasoni need to be crowded. The starting colony number you'll see recommended assumes a minimum 55gall tank. Sufficient rockwork for these fish displaces a LOT of water. If you put a sufficient starting number (12-15+) in a 30gall tank with a good amount of rock your functional tank capacity will be -- at a guess -- 20ish gallons at which rate they will be fouling their tank at a prodigious rate.

Needed Number of Fish + Rock Work + Water Quality + Aggression

I almost never tell people what to do, and ultimately many unconventional things do work out, but this looks rough on the fish, IMO.

Avatar · 08-15-2012, 9:39 PM

I've access to a lot of old slate roofing shingles and pieces, and though I've never tried it on Africans, with a little creativity one can create a rather complex labyrinthine habitat that displaces precious little water (like maybe 1-2 gallons in a 100 - or a 55). And it's not at all a bad look, especially if you're clever. If anyone wants a box, let me know - my indebtedness quotients are light.

WendyFish · 08-15-2012, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avatar

I've access to a lot of old slate roofing shingles and pieces, and though I've never tried it on Africans, with a little creativity one can create a rather complex labyrinthine habitat that displaces precious little water (like maybe 1-2 gallons in a 100 - or a 55). And it's not at all a bad look, especially if you're clever. If anyone wants a box, let me know - my indebtedness quotients are light.

Yep, could be good. We use lots of broken terra cotta pot pieces for fry with the same idea and they love hiding under/around them. (Mbuna friendly) plants also help in this regard, as they break line of sight meaningfully.

Avatar · 08-15-2012, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WendyFish

Yep, could be good. We use lots of broken terra cotta pot pieces for fry with the same idea and they love hiding under/around them. (Mbuna friendly) plants also help in this regard, as they break line of sight meaningfully.

Except for the color that sounds pretty good. Think it might be fun to try melding a bunch of coconut shells together for certain species (not sure which ones).

Scorp1us · 08-16-2012, 11:20 AM

Thanks all for your advice! There is so much information out there, and much of it is conflicting. I'd rather draw from anecdotal evidence. Than some generic write up. Who knows if traits got bread out in the trade?

dogofwar · 08-16-2012, 11:47 AM

It's a fair assumption that mean didn't get bred out of demasoni...

Matt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scorp1us

Thanks all for your advice! There is so much information out there, and much of it is conflicting. I'd rather draw from anecdotal evidence. Than some generic write up. Who knows if traits got bread out in the trade?