# A. Thomasi



## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

Has anybody kept these? I currently have four, but I am going to add several more to my group. If anybody has some experience with how aggressive they are when breeding I would love for you to share. I absolutely love this fish, no idea why. I have read an article that suggest that they are very mellow when breeding and that 3 pairs can be housed in a 40g (I'm assuming a 4ft tank).

I have my four in a 60x18x20 planted show tank. I was hoping to try for 4-5 pairs.

What do you guys think?


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## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

A lot depends on which population you have. The first strain into the hobby, from Sierra Leone, was a pretty mild mannered fish. However, the current fish in the hobby are mostly from Guinea, and can be pretty tough. I had a pair take over more than half a long 30 while spawning - and they weren't even full grown yet. The other fish were _Pelvicachromis _from the _humilis _group, and were nearly twice the size of the _thomasi_. There was also one spare _thomasi_, and he really caught heck.

Given the likelihood that you have the Guinea population, I would be hesitant to try more than three pairs in your tank. In fact, I suspect that three will be pushing your luck. I can't even find any Sierra Leone fish around any more.

Incidentally, they are capable of eliminating burrowing livebearing snails. I had a ton of them in that 30, and those three had it snail free in a couple of months.


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Thomasii are awesome snail hunters. My LFS uses them to controll Malaysian Trumpets Snails (the other MTS) in it's tanks.


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## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

Wow this is all new information to me. I guess the articles I am reading are dated and refer to the more mellow variant.


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## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

Is there something else that I could do a group of to make use of the 5ft footprint? The tank is a display tank, but I really enjoy having a single type of cichlid, the behaviors are cool.


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## oldwheat (Dec 24, 2007)

I also actively seeking the Sierra Leone race of Thomasi. Chromedome is correct in his assessment of the aggression levels of the 2 races that have been imported to date. I realize that any SL Thomasi that might possibly be available will be aquarium strain but that would be OK as long as they were genetically pure. I'm wondering if they might still be available from Europe?


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## Bruce Haynes (Sep 8, 2010)

I have 3 pair and a bunch of survivor babies almost full grown in a 75. The aggression is very minimal even when breeding.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

What are the visual differences between the two types?


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## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

Quickest ID is that the Guinea race has a row of black dots about two scale rows below the dorsal. Other than that, the Guinea form tends to have dark bars most of the time, and a lot less red color. I may have to find an old slide of the Sierra Leone race, I have digital images of the Guinea.

There is some consideration in Lamboj of these possibly being different species, but no one is really looking at it closely at this time. At least one more morph has been collected, but never made it to the hobby; it is also quite distinct from the existing two. Lamboj has a photo in his book on West African Cichlids.


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## oldwheat (Dec 24, 2007)

The SL race also has a silver-violet base color and the Guinea leans more to a greenish shade.


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