# Petros, trophs & gobies



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

I haven't been on for a while but while I was away I converted my mbuna tank to a tang tank. The tank is 4' 90g I know it's too small for the long run but it works for now... I have 10 f2 petro famula kambimbwa 2-2.5", 12 f1 tropheus ilangi 1.5" and 4 f1 eretmodus cyanostictus 2-3". I've kept trophs and gobies in the past but I've never had petros.

Needless to say it is a very active aggressive tank I know they are all still young and the aggression will increase but for now it's mostly a lot of bluffing..

The gobies were mixed in with my mbuna and I've had them since august of last year, the petros have been in the tank for 2 months and the trophs for a month now.

My plan is to upgrade to a 6' tank at some point in the future. I guess that depends on how fast theses dudes grow? The ilangi seem to be growing fast and their parents were easily 5". The petros aren't growing as fast as I was expecting, I guess that's a good thing gives me more time to find a bigger tank.

I have a 5' 100g in the garage that I'm not using. Would that be ok long term or should I go for a 6'? Comments and advise welcome...

I'll try to get some pics up soon...Thanks for looking.


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## phishman2001 (Apr 12, 2013)

I have kept Red Rainbows in a 90 before. They were doing ok, as they were raised together from small fry. I eventually moved them to my 180 with my Pemba. I also keep Petrochromis Trewavasae in the 180 with the Pemba and RR's. They are considered to be a beginner Petro and suprisingly get along well considering I ended up with a terrible ratio of 4m/2f. They grew up together from fry also. They have finally spawned but she spit the eggs or ate them. I have since bought another 7 Trews and they are growing up in the 180 with the others. It's good that your gobies are getting along. They can be nasty. Your 5' tank should work out for the Trophs and Gobies. With Petros, it's hard to tell, but they would be better off in the five footer than the four foot tank. It is possible that the five footer will be too small for them in the long run.


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

I had a dozen petro sp. yellow Mtoto in a 5', 120g with a group of Trophs. I now have 2 males left after the killing began (These petros are not supposed to be as aggressive and don't grow as large as some other types) and they are in seperate tanks with Trophs. IMO a six foot tank would be the bare minimum for petros and 10 is to small a group. They need large numbers to spread out aggression and also require a lot more food than the Trophs (They are pigs). Large groups and lots of food means high nitrates, the more water to dilute the nitrates, the better. I wouldn't try Petros in anything smaller than a 180g again, and even then would probably stick to Trews.


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Yeah I'm hoping to upgrade to a 180 but be happy with a a 6' 125 or something around there...

I started with 7 gobies, 2 were murdered 1 I was able to rescue and rehome before it was too late. The 4 I have left consist if 2 big males and 2 smaller unkown, no pairs yet. The males had the tank split in half and and things were fine until about a week ago. The slightly smaller male has decided that he wants the whole tank to himself. He went from being submissive to absolutely tyrannical. I'm going to hehome the other male and hope to get a pair out of the remaining trio...


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

So I got rid of the eretmodus and added some WC spathodus erythrodon. The eretmodus were much more visually appealing but I like the attitude of the spathodus.

http://s780.photobucket.com/user/ejbake ... p.mp4.html


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

I kept Petro Ortho Ikola, Troph Ikola and Tang Irsace Ikola in a 5 ft 120 gallon. The 20 Petros started taking each other out one by one until 8 remained. I had had enough of them by then. They just weren't worth the aggravation, IMO.


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## Chester B (Dec 28, 2012)

Have to echo the sentiments here. I would say you need a minimum 6' 150 gallon tank, but preferably larger for Petros. And yes they do eat a ton and appreciate good water quality. A breeder of petros that I know does 50% water changes daily on his tanks and has probably double the filtration of a normal tank, and no decorations aside from a little sand.


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Good thing I'm not a breeder because that doesn't sound fun at all.

The WC spathodus erythrodon have spawned! It appears the male wanted to chose his mate, the larger female was very forward he didn't like that too much. He has spawned with the smaller of the females, she's been holding for 3 days now...


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

Congratulations!!!


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks I don't think it's gonna last, she was scrapping with the other female and eggs were flying out of her mouth a tropheus was right there picking them off.


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

At this point it's the tropheus that are most aggressive. The dominant troph and dominant petro are "sharing" a territory and it's the troph (1/2 the size of the petro) that is always trying to chase the petro away. Surprisingly the petro will actually give way...


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Lost my first petro and the biggest one has been dethroned. He's getting punked by guys a lot smaller than him... The spathodus spawned again a different female this time but she has been holding for 5 days now... The ilangi are doing well.


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## phishman2001 (Apr 12, 2013)

I think the 5'tank would be better. I keep some Trews with about 20 Red Rainbows and 25 Bemba. They are in a 6' 180. *** lost a few to agression. Trews are the easist Petro to keep.


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

I sold the 5' tank a couple months ago, but I'm on CL everyday looking for that perfect deal.

Tank is in a good place, still highly active a lot of short chases but seems like everyone knows there place...

I got back from Yosemite (watched the sunrise on Half Dome ) yesterday and to my surprise the male spathodus is now holding. I'd like to strip him because I don't think any fry will survive in the main tank. Any advice on how long I should wait before I strip him? I'm not sure when he actually began holding but when I left Monday morning the female was still holding.


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

6- 7 days. You could strip now if you want to tumble.


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## areuben (Jul 17, 2003)

When you said you lost a petro, do you know how - was it another petro, because earlier you had said the trophs were aggressive towards them. If it was petro aggression, you probably had a dead or nearly dead fish with a body that got chewed up pretty good. When a petro starts getting battered by another petro, it isn't pretty and it doesn't take long for the end. Consider how they rasp algae, etc off of rocks with those rows of rasping teeth - when they start hitting on a combatants body pinned up in a corner, it is pretty ugly. If that isn't the case, there may be something else going on. I agree with the other posters about a minimum 6 footer for the petros - but personally I wouldn't go with an 18" wide tank - not enough footprint area. I'd go minimum 24" to a 180, 220 or larger. You also never described your aquascaping, which I'm sure you know can have a huge impact with managing both trophs and petros. I have kept probably a dozen types of petros over the years and truly miss the fish but finally gave up on babysitting, the tanks were a constant worry/stress. I'd leave town for a couple of days business and be freaking out calling my wife at night about potential issues. There are tons of posts on keeping petros and there are good and bad stories, however, at the end of the day the bad certainly outdo the good stories. It's too bad because many petros are beautiful fish and become like puppy dogs at feeding time, creating a personal attachment. Yes there are lots of tank management things we can do, between aquascaping and powerheads, etc to reduce aggression, but that aggression will always be there and can turn at anytime when you least suspect it. I agree trews can be a little easier to manage, as some of the famulas can, but at the end of the day they are fairly good sized, aggressive fish and the more space you can give them, the better. How are the petros doing now, if you still have them? Are they bulking up? Famula are a smaller group but can still get pretty bulky and when they do, they won't bother too much or be intimidated by your trophs.


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

I can't be sure how the petro died, it was freshly dead maybe even still gasping slightly, stuck to the sponge filter up against the glass. Not beat up really at all, could just gotten stuck?

As I mentioned before there is a lot of chasing going on just short bursts nothing too violent. Most of the aggression is conspecific. At the moment everyone is good but the trophs seem to be growing faster than the petros. Although "bulking up" is a good term, they do seem to be getting thicker rather than longer...

In any case the WC spathodus are comfortable enough to spawn, gonna strip the male tomorrow...


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Got 8 fully developed spathodus fry! I wasn't able to get them all as there mouths are a little more difficult to work with than say trophs or mbuna. I didn't want to stress him out too much si after a couple tries I returned him to the tank...


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)




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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

So all the gobie fry died. It appears as if they weren't eating I'd watch them pick at the food and spit it out. I was feeding them crushed up NLS and spirulina flake. I've done this with all my fry from mbuna to tropheus and never had an issue. I have another female holding so shouldn't be long until I get another batch, hopefully it goes much better next time...


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

I used to feed my Goby fry with crushed NLS as well. My male would spit out 30-40 fry at a time.


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

I used golden pearl and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs to raise goby fry... always had excellent survival (as long as I didn't do anything stupid).

What are the conditions in the grow out tank? Sufficient aeration is huge for gobies...


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

10 gallon with a sponge filter. The pump is for a 30 gallon it provides more than enough aeration. Talking about doing stupid things I'm pretty sure I changed too much water too fast and they weren't able to adjust. It didn't appear as if they were shocked but more like they wasted away... On a another topic now appears that I have 1m:3f, should I remove 2 females? I thought the male had chosen a life partner (she is currently holding) but now one of the other females is ready to spawn so he is chasing the holding female away... The third female is beginning to look gravid now not sure what to do?


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Let them be. I've had successful trios before... this brute is holding for two females at the same time:


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

triscuit said:


> Let them be. I've had successful trios before... this brute is holding for two females at the same time:


 And it needs braces. :lol:


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

JimA said:


> And it needs braces. :lol:


Right? See how his snout is all beat up from his ladies? I stripped 42 fry from him shortly after this pic was taken, and he threw some beautiful offspring (incl the male in my avatar).


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

So based on size coloration and aggression it appears I have 6 male and 3 female petros ( and one runt that has remained less than 1" in size and unsexable). I believe one of the females is becoming gravid because all the males are constantly going after her and she is looking rather chunky... Honestly I'm surprised she's still alive (she's a fighter). So here's my dilemma should I try to reduce the stock to 1 male and 3 females or should I just let things play out? If I let nature take it's course I'm pretty sure I'll lose all the females eventually... The males don't really fight it's all a bluff but they are pretty harsh on the females.


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