spawning Julidochromis in a community tank

[LaurenH]

I have a pair of juvenile Julidochromis marlieri that are actively spawning in my 38gal tank that also has 1m/3f Lamprologus brevis and a handful of juvenile cyprichromis. The Julis are about 2" long, and the brevis are full grown. The juli's spawning cave is on the opposite side of the tank from the 2 shell piles for the brevis. Now that I have juli fry that are about a month old, the youngsters are leaving the nest. The julis keep going back between the young fry in their cave and the older fry in the shell piles and won't let anyone use the bottom half of the tank.

Any suggestions? I realize I may just have to put the shellies in their own tank but was hoping to avoid that...

 

[rsretep]

Sometimes you can break up line of sight between the two species with a pile of rocks or plant to give them privacy. I have kept gold occies and ju'idochromis transcripts together in 40 breeder (36"x018") without issue, rock pile for Jules on one side of tank and bed of shells for lamprologus

 

[verbal]

what are the tank dimensions? If the tank is less than 36" long, it may be hard to create 2 distinct territories.

 

[Leffler817]

When I had Marleri spawning they did not like any shellies. I tried a few different groups to no avail. You might be ok in the short term by breaking up sight lines and such but a full grown male Marleri will reach 6". My male was that big and he was pretty relentless defending his territory in my 4' tank. Luck.


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[LaurenH]

The tank is 36" long. I had tried putting a large vertical rock between the two groups, and that does help a little. Maybe I'll add a second.

I realize the marlieri will get big and have been saving up for a larger tank for them (hopefully a 75g!) I thought I could keep them in the 38g for a year or so, but they have started spawning earlier than I had expected.

What minimum tank sizes (both gallons and length) are appropriate for a single pair of brevis? Two pairs? Thanks!

 

[Leffler817]

What minimum tank sizes (both gallons and length) are appropriate for a single pair of brevis? Two pairs? Thanks!

I have bred Brevis 'Kitumba' in a 10 gallon. I started with 7 fish and let them pair off. You could possibly get away with one pair in a 3 or 5 gallon.

 

[ezrk]

We had Juli and Occellatus in a 20g and it was hopeless.

 

[verbal]

It looks like a separate tank for your shellies is the best bet. The good news is even a group should be fine in a 10 gallon tank.