# owning an emperor cichlid from tanganyika



## RaV3N (Aug 11, 2009)

After seeing emperor cichlids from tanganyika in a video and how large they get I became intrested in owning a pair. If I housed a pair of these they would be in atleast a 160G long, but how would you go about taking care of these. Do people even keep these fish in tanks? How would you care for them compared to your common malawi species?


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## clgkag (Mar 22, 2008)

This fish can get up to 3ft long. I don't think a 160 long would be near big enough for them. I don't know how they could stay there, but definately not for life.


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## RaV3N (Aug 11, 2009)

Whats suitable for them?


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## TangSteve (Sep 20, 2009)

An indoor pond


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

If you think about a 6" fish being OK in a 36" tank alone...then a 3" fish would need a 18 foot tank...to be in it alone.


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## RaV3N (Aug 11, 2009)

I have a pond in my backyard that were thinking of heating in the winter and keeping cichlids in it. The pond is 12ft by 12ft in a circle shape. Would a pair be ok in there when their full grown?


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## TangSteve (Sep 20, 2009)

Coming from Denver I can speak to outdoor ponds in the cold like in Jersey.

Petsmar's heaters were actually 1st used to heat sheet metal for industrial applications and converted over to aquarium heaters.

They use 2 to 3 for a 1200g system for a store kept at 75 degrees. (Btw one heater runs $300)

Now imagine a night at 0 degrees with a large surgace area on your pond and 32 degree snow falling into it and melting.

IMO this equals dead fish unless you have a green house built over the pond.

When I lived in Phoenix I did keep SA cichlids in an outdoor pond and it is amazing to see the colors from being in natrual light and feeding a live insects.

You need to either enjoy the multitude of fish we can keep or invest in a large indoor pond. IMO a big fish in a small tank is boring, I much prefer a big tank with small fish.


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

I have seen emperors, full grown, making a 300 look small. I would think 500 at 10 feet or larger. Big fish are cool, I admit, and these are cooler than most but, for instance, my lfs has an arowana of 2.5' in a 300 just swimming back and forth with a Shovelnose cat and I can't think of many aquatic situations I thought looked more dumb! :lol:

An indoor pond would be great but not ideal because I have never seen Indoor ponds with the depth that these fish would be comfortable with. I think a 10 foot 800 with 4' of depth would look awesome.

So, because it's so easy, first, go to the bank and withdraw oh $12,000 then go straight home and spent it all on a giant tank, heating, filtration, sand, rock, etc. Oh yeah and then head to the LFS and say Two Boulengichromis Microlepis please? They'll look at you wondering if that's Latin for Goldfish, and then say, "Oh I meant to say two Emperor Cichlids please?" ... Again they stupor and you realize these are HARD to come by. :lol:

I joke but, No joke, one of my LFS's has 6 right now!! :lol: They're in a 500 at the shop owners house and it looks like a feeder tank! ALl are about 2 feet and I saw them twice, a year apart, and they don't seem to be getting much bigger although the females are leaner looking. I think the main reasons these guys make BIG tanks look so small compared to other fish of similar size is because they move around a lot. Kind of like a trout tank with no schooling behavior. He says he may eat a few and keep only a pair! :lol:

Seriously though, if you can manage it, post pics!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I think the expense of heating an outdoor pond of that size to 78 degrees all winter would be staggering. It wouldn't be like a koi pond where you just have to keep the water from freezing solid.

It should be big enough for a pair however.

What will you do about predators? Heron, fox, bear, racoon, snakes all take fish from outdoor ponds routinely in NJ.


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## RaV3N (Aug 11, 2009)

Yea after thinking about it to heat the pond will be extremly expensive and for the snow falling in the pond, if it was even affordable id put a tent over the pond when it was snowing. As far as predartors we had many koi big and small in the pond for 8 years now and havent had any predator problems. If there was only a more efficient way of heating it. I wonder if any solar panel set ups they sell on the internet can provide enough juice.

:fish:


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

Wouldn't a pond heated to 78 degrees with an atmospheric temp of 0-30 degrees cause a ton of evaporation requiring some kind of automatic top off almost constantly?


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

http://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopi ... =87&t=6007
Hope that helps.
Big active fish not in my league but I think it can be done as shown.


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

That's pretty awesome! Thanks for that link!


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## RaV3N (Aug 11, 2009)

Thats cool, how much does a 400 gallon like that w/ the filter go for?


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## lopes2434 (Feb 20, 2009)

Hey if your wanting to buy a emperor cichlids there is one on aquabid right now...


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The species article says 500G minimum I think.


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## aandfsoccr04 (Sep 2, 2009)

Have you thought about taking 5000 dollars and spending it on a saltwater tank? I'm sure you could get something that would make you much happier..just a thought. Much easier to do..


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## RaV3N (Aug 11, 2009)

aandfsoccr04 said:


> Have you thought about taking 5000 dollars and spending it on a saltwater tank? I'm sure you could get something that would make you much happier..just a thought. Much easier to do..


yea but from the stuff I hear from the people that own them it seems like they are very hard to balance but yet it still would probably be a better idea. If I were to do it it owuldnt be anytime soon. Just getting ideas


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

"Live Fish Direct", one of the sponsors, has emperors right now. When they're small you can keep them in many different sized growouts. If I was looking for a setup for these, even if it were a year or more away, I would get them whenever I could find them as they're quite rare


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