# Julidochromis Transcriptus avoiding rocks, should I worry?



## Curious Jay (Feb 17, 2008)

I have 5 juvenile J. Transcriptus in my tank. There are two distinct rock piles... one pile is roughly 10"x10" and about 9-10" tall and made out of stones fragments around the size of small apples so there are lots of little hiding places. The second pile is around 7x7x6 and made out of similar rock.

Originally I had the one big pile, but added the second pile on the opposite side of the tank when I noticed a single transcriptus hanging out near some tall artificial plants. The plants have a decent amount of algae on them, he seems to be busy picking away at them. When i built the second rock pile he didn't even seem to notice it and continued to hang out way up in the top of the plant, just picking away.

I don't think he's under stress. He can swim over to the main rock pile without them chasing him away or anything. His behavior is just rather out of the ordinary compared to the other four. He spends almost all day lounging on the leaves of the plant and munching on the algae.

Here is a picture of the tank, if that helps:










Forgive the streaks on the glass, I haven't wiped it down since I moved the rocks and shells around.

So what do you think? Should I be worried about Mr. Lonely hanging out in the treetops?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Eventually you'll end up with just a pair, and the others will all be pushed to the top. Until such time as there is harassment or injuries, just leave things as is.


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## Curious Jay (Feb 17, 2008)

Fogelhund said:


> Eventually you'll end up with just a pair, and the others will all be pushed to the top. Until such time as there is harassment or injuries, just leave things as is.


So I've read. On the off chance that I have at least 2 males and 2 females in the 5... is there no chance that I'll end up with two pairs?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

What is the tank size?


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## Curious Jay (Feb 17, 2008)

Fogelhund said:


> What is the tank size?


29 gallon / 30.25" x 12.5" x 18.75"


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

I would suggest that odds are against there being two pairs of transcriptus in the tank long-term. It might happen for a bit, but I think eventually the second pair will get run out. Stranger things have happened though.


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## cadfael_tex (Feb 3, 2009)

But if you are lucky enough to get two pair - you can always put the second pair in a ten gallon.  :dancing:


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## Curious Jay (Feb 17, 2008)

Fogelhund said:


> I would suggest that odds are against there being two pairs of transcriptus in the tank long-term. It might happen for a bit, but I think eventually the second pair will get run out. Stranger things have happened though.


*nods* Well if they do get run out... I'll have an excuse to put a little transcriptus/multifaciatus tank in my office! =)



cadfael_tex said:


> But if you are lucky enough to get two pair - you can always put the second pair in a ten gallon.  :dancing:


My thoughts exactly =) Although my multis are slow to spawn (only two successful spawns in the last 12 months!) I'll eventually have to thin the tank out.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Nothing much to add except nice tank mate.
I would push the shells further away from the rocks so you have a bit more room for the multies to hold off the Julies when they pair and begin breeding.
Yep with just one pile of rocks one pair of Julies is all I would hope for (You made a good choice on species). I would remove the small pile of rocks it is too small for a second pair and just upsets the balance in such a tank. Any Julies pushed out of the rocks I would remove if you can without moving the rocks. It will not help the pair bonding and may even hinder it but I have a soft heart.  

Not sure you need to cull any multi young in this tank I think the Julies might well do it for you.


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## Curious Jay (Feb 17, 2008)

24Tropheus said:


> I would remove the small pile of rocks it is too small for a second pair and just upsets the balance in such a tank.


Thanks for the compliment =)

Upsets the balance as in visual beauty of the tank, or upsets the balance like the dynamic between the things living in it?

Btw if I do remove it... my multies are gonna be pissed. Prior to the transcriptus the only rock work in the tank was two huge rocks to act as sight breaks between some shell piles. You would have thought I installed a home theatre in there the way the multies acted about that little rock pile. Every single one of them raced over to it and spent the next few hours popping in and out of it. I've never seen all of them get so close to each other without fussing.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Interesting. My multies after breeding in some shells set up a second colony in some rock
work. I removed them from the tank as I had bigger fish that had started to be a threat to even the adults. But it would be interesting to see if yours set up a new breeding group in there or if the Julies kick them out once they start breeding.

Prob more interesting to leave it then.  Best not to chop and change a lot when they are breeding anyway. :thumb:


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## Curious Jay (Feb 17, 2008)

Christ this foray into Julies has been an absolute wreck so far.

I had 6, I lost 2 (confirmed dead and recovered), and now I can only find 2 in the tank (the rock work makes it hard)

I've looked -really- hard for the missing 2, but can't find a single trace of them. Unless they are both absolutely buried in the depths of the rock pile, I have no idea where they went.

Of the two that are confirmed dead... I saw one looked rather pale and stressed so I retrieved him and put him in a specimen container hanging on the inside of the tank for a few minutes while I decided if I should transfer him to another tank. While I'm thinking it over and peeking in the tank I notice a dead juli at the back of the tank... looks like he'd been dead 24-36 hours or so. While I'm getting him out, the one in the specimen container dies.

Wtf. I've been checking my water parameters every day since the day before introducing the new fish and every day after and everything has stayed perfectly stable even with the dead fish in the tank. Wtf is going on? I was under the impression because of their uniform size (about an inch long) that I had juveniles, but apparently I've got little killing machines on my hands unless there is some other factor I'm over looking.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Were they hanging around the top before they died? That's a sign a pair is forming and the one hiding may be killed as soon as the pair can manage it.

I've heard it said that julies need a pretty large tank for pair formation, I would have thought 30" would have been just large enough.

In case that's not it, you need to give the actual water parameters: pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.


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## Curious Jay (Feb 17, 2008)

DJRansome said:


> Were they hanging around the top before they died? That's a sign a pair is forming and the one hiding may be killed as soon as the pair can manage it.
> 
> I've heard it said that julies need a pretty large tank for pair formation, I would have thought 30" would have been just large enough.
> 
> In case that's not it, you need to give the actual water parameters: pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.


My water parameters have been the same every day, here is the readings:
Ph: 8.5
GH: 20dH (358ppm)
KH: 14dH (268ppm)
Nitrates: 0
Nitrites: 0
Ammonia: 0

The tank is over-filtered in my opinion... there is a bio-wheel 150 on the back and the big ass sponge filter you see tucked among the plants (I think it's for up to a 40 gallon tank) and it's been an established tank for over a year with no issues what at all. Healthy stable water the whole time thanks to really high Ph and hard tap water combined with consistent water changes.

The weird part is that I watched one of them right before they died. They were just swimming around being cichlids. No hard fighting or anything just the usual "You dart there, I dart here" stuff. The the two guys that died had no evidence on them of physical harm... no nipped fins, no scale damage at all... the one that I observed in the quarantine box was breathing rapidly and then he keeled over. =(


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## Curious Jay (Feb 17, 2008)

Update:

I finally found all four Transcriptus. Referencing the picture I posted above... there is a single fish in that huge ass rock pile, two fish hanging out in the stand of plants/sponge filter spot, and another lone fish all the way across the tank in the deepest cave of the little rock pile (I can only see him/her because the back of the cave is right in the corner and I can peek into it.)

At least now I know that all four are alive and can keep tabs on them. The two that are in the stand of plants are hanging out side by side just chilling. All four still have good coloration with no paleness or rapid breathing.

For what it's worth the other inhabitants of the tank, the multifaciatus, have shown absolutely no signs of stress or illness and seem--other than doing a little extra home shell defense against the new fish--to be pretty indifferent.


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## cadfael_tex (Feb 3, 2009)

Glad to hear it! Are the two that staked out the rock sections looking to be males or females?


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## Curious Jay (Feb 17, 2008)

cadfael_tex said:


> Glad to hear it! Are the two that staked out the rock sections looking to be males or females?


Size wise there seems to be not variation yet. I've seen all of them with the others at some point and all of them looks to be 1"-1.5" inches long, if even that long. There aren't any that are significantly lengthier or bulkier than the others.

There are variations in the patterning on them however. Some of them have a more "my skin is black but my body is dappled with white dots" appearance, especially the face... while the others have a more "my skin is white with black stripes" appearance.

I went in to try and get a second look to better describe them and now there is one buried in the big rock pile, two of them hanging out at the top of the rock pile and I can't find the one that was in the little rock pile (but the little rock pile has enough multis zipping in and out of it that I can' image the little juli is hanging out in there withm them too.)

Oh for a 240G tank where everyone would have enough space to leave each other the **** alone!


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## Curious Jay (Feb 17, 2008)

And then there were three.

So I spent the better part of the day trying to catch one of the transcriptus that kept hanging out near the water return. It kept zipping back into the rocks (those things are **** fast!) and I wasn't able to get it. Found that one ten minutes ago on the edge of the rock pile, freshly done in. *sigh*

On the, possibly?, upside... the three that remain are all hanging out right by each other with no apparent aggression. For the ten minutes prior to finding the dead body and the ten minutes after that I watched them... they all just hung out in the formation, staying within 3 inches of each other at all times but showing no aggression at all.


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