Protomelas sp. "Steveni Taiwan" (Taiwanee Reef)

[Hannibal]

I picked up 4 of these guys at the Jan meeting and they are doing great! I think I have three females and one male as he is the only one starting to color up any. They are currently housed in a 55 gallon with a yellow lab who I had to rescue from a nippy mate. From reading up on them it appears that I should have at least a 75 gallon tank for them, eventually I would assume. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that they are a cares fish as well.

How long do you think I can keep them in the 55 before upgrading to something bigger or do I even need to?

Assuming I do up grade to a larger tank, what would be some good tankmates for them?

Thanks in advance!

 

[verbal]

I think you are going to be good for a while with the 55. They don't get as big as the Red Empress, so for a small group of small adults the 75 is a nice to have rather than an absolute requirement.

I think you should be able to add a yellow lab group if you wanted too without any issue.

If your ratio is 1Male/3 Female, I might see if they would breed before adding tankmates. Subdominant males are likely to color up less and not as much. The good news is there is demand for you extra males among those who keep all male hap tanks.

If you are adding tankmates you want peaceful medium-sized haps or most peacocks should work. You could probably even combine them with a group of victorian haps. If you go the peacock route stay away from jacobfreibergi and OB. I think the smaller Copadichromis(not borleyi) could work well.

 

[Hannibal]

Thanks Jesse!

The wife will be happy to hear I won't need to buy another tank for a while. I will keep my eyes out though in the event I run across a good deal on a larger tank.

I think I am going to keep them in the tank by themselves to see if I can indeed get them to breed. The lab female will go into the 75 once her tail heals up, maybe she will be ready to breed then too.

 

[Tony]

Nice pickup, Chris!

You'll certainly be happy with that group.

 

[Reed]

i think they are from my Spawn. Glad to here they are doing good and you got a male