# Altolamprologus calvus Inkfin



## kfig7 (Nov 24, 2008)

Thinking of starting a species tank for these guys and was just wondering what substrate and background would be best to bring out the best in coloration? I have 2 options, I can paint the back of the tank black and use a lighter sand substrate or I could us an aquaterra background I have laying around (canyon rock which is brown/redish/black) and a dark tan substrate. I would think that they would get lost in a black background but who knows. any suggestions? Oh and it will be a 75 gallon tank.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I think most people go for the darker surroundings. Calvus like many other fish try to match their surroundings. If you want to see "black" calvus, go dark. Don't forget, the Calvus do have the lighter stripes and dots. The black calvus may try to gray themselves out with light aquascaping.

I have medium dark background and rocks, light substrate. They look nice, but only a couple of the females keep the really dark color.


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## felix51 (Jan 30, 2009)

I went to the extreme of black background and black gravel for the substrate. It brings out that dark brown color for certain. The white spots only become more prominent with the black background and substrate as well.

One thing to remember with a species only tank with these fish is that they are extremely skittish, and will stay hidden most of the time, even during feeding. I followed the advice of others around here to add cyprichromis to the tank and it was the best thing i could have imagined for these fish, they actually swim freely and are always easy to view and enjoy. Assuming your intention is to breed, i don't think the cyps will hinder that either as they generally keep to the upper half of the tank. Mine are too sexually immature so i can't personally validate that, but have read others' reports of such on here.

Good luck!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Well also even with a species tank you may have trouble getting more than one male per tank. I've heard of colonies, but I've heard more instances of males fighting.

Maybe you could buy an adult, established colony? Bet that would go for $100's of dollars, LOL!

I have 6 together but they are not mature as yet (1.5 years). If I had to guess I'd say I have 3 males and 3 females. I'm expecting to end up with a single pair in the tank, but we will see.


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## kfig7 (Nov 24, 2008)

Thanks for all the replies. I may have to think about adding the cyprichromis. Sounds like a good idea. Still debating the dark aquascaping  I hate to waste my aquaterra background that I have laying around. Maybe I'll look into a white calvus. Or just stick with the black and see how it looks. I just hate using black sand


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

In my ink fin set up (80 gal Bow) I painted the back black and went with 3 parts black sand to 1 part all purpose sand (brown). It looks way more natural and achieves the same "darkening results. They are skittish but if you put 2 males (one a bit larger than the other), 10 females (good luck finding 10 fm's at once), stack the rocks high (almost to the surface) and wide, keep the rocks tight to the back of the tank (so they can't disappear in the depth of the tank), Big shells everywhere (12 shells to 10 fm's) you'll see plenty of "Ant Farm" like action. Also, I would advise making to seperate rock piles, one large and one about half the size of the other. This give each male a territory and the largest male will usually be content controlling his females in the large pile, ocassionally giving chase or charging the lesser male but you have less chance of prolonged fighting than you do with one big pile. I'm not guaranteeing you won't come home one day and one of your males is floating but 5 females per male is a ton so I would be surprised. Don't get similarly sized males because they will fight for the main pile and if they're equally matched you might lose both of them. You want that battle decided by size the day you introduce them.

My males go days without even acknowledging one another because they are too busy bottling females in shells etc. Throw a leleupi and a pair of transcriptus in their too to control all the loose fry you don't keep.


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