# Feather fins with kilesa and comps?



## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

I have a 75g tank with 5 adult kilesa and 13 cyps. Will I be able to add a breeding colony of Cyathopharynx along with 4 two inch comps.


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## Guest (Jul 3, 2012)

i wouldnt... the featherfins will compete for the sand when spawning.. i have cyps, kilesa and a few sumbu dwarf comps in a 75 and they are doing well... my cyathopharnyx are in a 125 with white calvus, julies and cyps... i put some xenos in there and they all slowly died


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

Thanks.
Do u have a video of your 75g set up?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

The comps you might get away with, but completely agree that you won't be successful in adding the Cyatho's.


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## Guest (Jul 3, 2012)

gota pic... my kilesa use the entire length of the front of the tank i put a few rocks on either side for fish to hide if harassed (my dom male cyp is a tyrant) and then i have some shells on the back wall for the sumbus who also hide in the background


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

Nice set up. 
Any idea if I can put 6" 2m/2f feather fins with 6-8"fronts?

I saw 4 feather fins for $80 total and I'm wondering if I can house them with my current fishes.


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## Guest (Jul 3, 2012)

*** never kept fronts so idk but my friend whos into them basically says you shouldnt keep anything with them at all.. but im sure some other people have kept fish with them.. i just wouldnt know


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

I'm thinking of adding a pair of breeding sumbu comps as my shell dwellers and I also wanted to add some sort of rock dwellers but don't know which ones. 
Will julidochromis midnight dickfeldi work as a pair or just one will also be fine with me.

I had 5 adult paracyprichromis but found them a bit boring, so out they went.


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## Guest (Jul 3, 2012)

from what i understand fronts will eat anything that will fit in their mouths.. sumbus might not be the best pick since females stay small... you might wanna throw some less expensive julies in there midnights are top shelf as far as julies go just to see if they get eaten or not.. i had no luck with paracyps... i killed everyone i added.. well i had 1 left and i gave it away...


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

Sorry I'm tanking about putting the sumbus and dickfeldis with my kilesas and cyps in my 75g.

I thought about putting the feather fins with my mobas in my 125g since it wouldn't work with my tang tank


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## Guest (Jul 3, 2012)

ohhhhhhhhhh lol *** got sumbus in with kilesa and cyps and they do fine.. the sumbus havent spawned yet but i think thats just cuz my male isnt interested for some reason.. *** caught both females with their egg tubs down and they seem to push each other around.. but the big male could care less.. not sure about the julies.. julies get real aggressive when they spawn.. 1 you could do fine but if you put a pair in and they spawn they'll probly stress the kilesa out and chase them away.. kilesa love to eat fry too even their own.. savages


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

Cool. 
I may try sumbus instead of the regular comps as I really like to add shell dwellers in the tank and I'll try 1 midnight dickfeldi. If there's an unoccupied rock work I will try to add some parAcyprichromis again.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

mel_cp6 said:


> Cool.
> I may try sumbus instead of the regular comps as I really like to add shell dwellers in the tank and I'll try 1 midnight dickfeldi. If there's an unoccupied rock work I will try to add some parAcyprichromis again.


That should be safe. Not that calvus could not be fine too. Paracyps should do well esp if you give em an overhang. Opthal ventralis the more peaceful Ophthalmotilapia ventralis. (Kambwimba) or/= Orange Cap or Aulonocranus dewindti if dead set on a featherfin could work one male and a bunch of females.
Saying that a 75g is as small for these as it is kilesa. Both better with a bigger footprint where you can enjoy multiple males sparing long term.
Mind you I would not pop in the dickfeldi. Far more agro than interest from that.


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

My main goal is to have a sand sifter, open water, she'll dweller and a small non aggressive rock dweller or two. 
I like comps but I may like sumbus better as this will be my shell dweller. Not really interested in collecting any **** and I only want 1 male kilesa to display and if there's two even better. 75g is what I have as the 125g is housing my wild cyphotilapia wild mobas.

I'm not really set on feather fins or ventrAils. Just looking into what I can add with the kilesas and Cyprichromis. 
One day, I will house fronts, Cyprichromis , comps, leleupis, and julidochromis in an 8' tank. Well hopefully.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

8) Maybe have a look at Chalinochromis for the rockdweller rather than a Julie like dicfieldi. Even J.regani kipilli are less agro than those!
Balacing act is giving enough rocks for your rockdweller to be happy inc the Paracyps and still giving enough uncontested open sand for the Enants. Kind of why I suggested O.ventralis as they can make do with rock tops and not compeat for the open sand like the bigger featherfins. :wink:


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

Thanks for the replies guys btw. I really appreciate it.

Just looked up the Chalinochromis and I really it. Is this something I can keep as a pair or just by itself to reduce aggression?


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## Guest (Jul 4, 2012)

you need more than 1 male kilesa for them to spawn.. they will not spawn with just 1 male.. i have 3 males and 2 are always flared up flashing each other trying to spawn..


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

I actually have 2m/3f and they are breeding. I just meant I don't really mind how many makes are flashing as this is a community tank and I don't plan to raise ****.


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

Btw. I currently have 5 adult kilesas and 1 surviving juvy along with 13 sub adult cyps utinta which also just spawned. 
I wanna add 1m/2f sumbu comps as my shell dwellers and a pair of Chalinochromis brichardi as the rock dwellers. 
And if there's still a free rock overhang I will add a few paracyprichromis to finish it off. 
I know it's a lot but I will be moving fish out if it doesnt work. I really want this to be a busy tank as it will be side by side with the mobas in the 125g and that is my calm tank. So it will look like a 10' tank as black background and rock formations 
will be flowing and continuous from one tank to the next.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

m1ke715m said:


> you need more than 1 male kilesa for them to spawn.. they will not spawn with just 1 male.. i have 3 males and 2 are always flared up flashing each other trying to spawn..


Are you sure of this. I found regular _Enantiopus melanogenys_ spawn fine with just one male with three females. Just you never see much colour or much interesting behaviour. Would be odd for any maternal mouthbrooder to need two males to spawn. :wink:


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## Guest (Jul 5, 2012)

i had a group of kilesa with 2m and i split them up with a friend they immediately stopped digging pits.. the males need each other to display in my experience.. my group was digging pits and wouldnt spawn when i added the 2 groups back together.. i added another trio and they spawned immediately.. i wouldnt keep them with less than 3 males which has worked best for me.. might work for others but it didnt for me..


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

I have had 1 male, 5 females E. Kilesa for the past year, and they have spawned several times. I am planning on adding a couple of males, as my male does not color up or display very often, but he does on occasion, and they do spawn regularly. He does have a "pit" ready to go about 80% of the time. So, it is definitely not required to have more than one male, but I would highly recommend it for the best color and most interesting behavior.


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## Guest (Jul 5, 2012)

mine are colored up constantly with 3 males.. every day they have pits and are displaying... i dont have much luck getting fry thou.. the females dont hold long


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

I found its a balancing act. Males yep better breeders in numbers but tend to harass holding females too much unless vastly outnumbered by these.
Plus you need to strip or use brooding tanks and rearing tanks to get many young.
One trick is to keep males in tanks side by side.
Fired up enough to breed but only the one in with the females able to breed and more importantly harass em when holding.

Communitty wise a bit of a pain as you need to keep disturbing the tank if you want lots of young. As well as not breeding for long, a couple of years 3 at a max.
Never realy did well with getting lots of young for sale with em. Rather high imput cichilds for me.

For sure with dedicated breeding tanks I reckon you could make a good little side line breeding and growing em on. But yep multiple tanks and a lot of effort.

All the best James


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

will the Chalinochromis pair up and get really aggressive to the point that rejected Chalinochromis will need to be removed?


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

mel_cp6 said:


> will the Chalinochromis pair up and get really aggressive to the point that rejected Chalinochromis will need to be removed?


For sure. Pretty much the norm for rockdwelling substrate spawners. They are petty mild in comparison to some but still a pair will not tollerate others long term unless the tank is very big with separate rock piles for two pairs to be kept. With your others would be more of a pain than a blessing I think. Though a second pair could always be moved on or popped in another tank if lucky enough to get two.


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

If i can, I just want a pair in my tank. I will get 4 to start. 
So 5 kilesas. 15 cyps utinta. 3 sumbu comps and 2 Chalinochromis. And if the rest tolerate, I will re add some paracyprichromis.


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

If i remove the kilesa, Do u guys think Chalinochromis, dickfeldi, Cyprichromis and regular comps can co exist in a 75g with proper rock work?

are there any interesting behavior from any of above rock dwellers? I'm sure not of them will display like the kilesa males. 
I'm trying to keep fangs that will eventually end up in an 8' tank and most likely the kilesas will not be in there.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Prob is the dickfeldi are the most Chalinochromis like of the Julies. I am sure you can get two or even three rockdwellers to co exist in a 75g but this combo would not be my first choice. You kind of lost me on the 8 footer. A completly different ballgame. 8)
And its the kilesa that would enjoy the extra space most I think. :thumb:


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

Oh. I'm planning to get an 8' tank in the future and wanted to start collecting fish that were going in it. 
I was very close to building a 7.5' ply tank but internal dimensions isn't really that much wider than my 125g and I can only make it 16" tall. With these dimensions I knew I wouldn't be able to keep jumbo cyps with fronts long term even with ample hiding places.

Hey Mike, does your kilesa breed while the sumbus are in the tank?

Thanks for all the input guys. 
I will stick with kilesa, cyps, sumbus and chalinochromis for now.


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## Guest (Jul 7, 2012)

yes they are breeding but not holding longer than a day or 2.. if i get lucky and strip them all i get some viable fry for the tumbler.. but they spawn and dont hold all the time.. its pretty frustrating... my sumbus are mad lazy it seems the 2 females dont like each other but the male could care less about either of them.. he wanted to murder them both when i first put him in with the 2 females.. i have a group of wild caught cyps that are huge in there i thought maybe they were stressin the kilesa but idk...


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

I'm having a real hard time deciding between which comps which to put in my 75g. 
Is there any advantage or disadvantage if I go with the regulars comps? The comps are around 1.5" right now and the sumbus are fully grown adult trio at 2-2.5".


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## Guest (Jul 9, 2012)

sumbus actually get just as big as regular comps they just take a long time and they breed smaller.. i know a guy in ny that has some huge ones from some of the first that were imported 10 years ago.. i think the advantage of going with sumbus is they take a long time to get to where they are too big regular comps get mean when they are real big at least the huge yellow one i had was


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

Thanks for the reply mike.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

I would grab those Sumbus. (wish I could get em in that ratio without braking the bank). They should/could add breeding interest far sooner than growing on 11/2" regular comps.
Funny enough very varied reports on how big they get esp the male. Added interest there too. 8)
It could be more than one type being sold as Sumbu or even a none dwarf type living close to a true dwarf type.
I forget the post but some guy tried to explain the difference on this site to me.
Afrade I failed to understand how to spot the difference.

All the best James


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## Guest (Jul 10, 2012)

i had 2 1" just die on me and the other 3 look like they are about to die.. no idea why.. the cyps growing out and callochromis melanostigma are fine in there.. the sumbus are huffing and puffing and gonna die.. i have a wild caught trio in a diff tank these are f1s from reserve but still im annoyed..

its funny you mention different looking sumbus.. my boy has a wc pair that are yellow.. i mean bright yellow.. at least they were when i was there.. and all the fy i got from him is also yellowish.. most of the fry died but i still have a few that i kept seperate from my others.. i cant find any info about these yellow ones and the only picture i see of a yellow one is on reserve's site but his are the grey ones iwth yellow tails cuz i had 5 and they didnt look anything like these.. i know they were dwarves cuz the female was 1" breeding like crazy


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

The trio is actually a breeding group. But I'm not interested in breeding any of these fishes but if they survive in tank then it's a bonus. I just want to enjoy this tank and hopefully they Can all get along.

Btw. I broke two 1" threaded bulkhead when I tried to reinstall the male PVC pipe. I think I'm cranking one to many times and probably went to thick on the Teflon tapes. Wished I went with slip bulkhead instead. Lol.


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

The trio sumbus are now in the tank. Hopefully they all find and stick with the shells. I decided to wait for some challinochromis ndobhoi instead of the plain brichardi. I'm thinking of also adding a pair of transcriptus Bemba but their shape is to similar to the ndobhoi. 
Any other smaller type of rock dweller that has a different body shape that you guys can think of, pls let me know. 
I may try the ventrails after all.


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

What do the ventrails kalambo male look lIke once fully grown up? I've only seen pictures of pale white ventrails.


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

Will I be able to add a few lamprologus stappersi if I give them shells at the opposite side of the sumbus shell?
I think the pattern and color on the stappersi Looks awesome.


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