# My piece of lake tanganyika: Alto comp 'Sumbu shell',Multies



## sumertiw

Hello Cichlid lovers,

Last month I thought of taking a break from planted tanks and made my mind to make a small tanganyikan tank with some shell dwellers.
After some reading and research I finally decided which fish I want to keep. I wanted Altolamprologus compressiceps 'Sumbu dwarf' (Or as some people like to call them Altolamprologus sp. compressiceps 'Sumbu dwarf' because they haven't been described yet) for my 20G tank. 
Then began the quest to find these beautiful shell dwellers. I emailed every single website that I knew, sells african fishes: bluegrassaquatics, Segrets farm, littleafrica and what not... But I couldn't find them.
A great guy Chris (frontosa express) had an adult trio for sale but I was looking for like a group of 5-6. So finally Jon from Riftfish emailed me saying he has a colony of 6. Everything worked out well and so there I was to recieve my fish at the Fedex office 

I had already setup my tank with "countless times washed and still making water cloudy" play sand and lace rocks. I did the acclimatisation process for 7-8 hours and then finally added them in the tank. My filter was already cycled from my planted tank and I had also put some seachem stability in the sand bed.
Jon also sent me some shells. I added some shells that I got at petco. I know they dont look great and look out of place. I will soon buy a big set of escargot snail shell and will replace all the weird shells with them.

2 questions though-

1. I totally failed to understand which is the male and which is the female. Sometimes a fish will have white body and stripes and them sometime the same fish will become all gray! Can anyone help me in identifying the male and female here?

2. Jon has sent me some food that they have been eating with him. Its about to get finished now. Which would be the best food that I can give them? NLS cichlid formula? Or mix it with NLS Thera +A? They also love to eat SDFF's nano krill mix.
Also, what are your views on feeding frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp to them?

Enough talking. Now my favorite part- Time for some pictures 

Sumbu shell-


Altolamprologus sp compressisceps "Sumbu shell" by sumertiwari, on Flickr


Altolamprologus sp compressisceps "Sumbu shell" by sumertiwari, on Flickr


Altolamprologus sp compressisceps "Sumbu shell" by sumertiwari, on Flickr


Altolamprologus sp compressisceps "Sumbu shell" by sumertiwari, on Flickr


Altolamprologus sp compressisceps "Sumbu shell" by sumertiwari, on Flickr


Altolamprologus sp compressisceps "Sumbu shell" by sumertiwari, on Flickr


Altolamprologus sp compressisceps "Sumbu shell" by sumertiwari, on Flickr


Altolamprologus sp compressisceps "Sumbu shell" by sumertiwari, on Flickr


Altolamprologus sp compressisceps "Sumbu shell" by sumertiwari, on Flickr


Altolamprologus sp compressisceps "Sumbu shell" by sumertiwari, on Flickr

Multies- 
Before I saw this picture, I did not know they have such sharp teeth.

Neolamprologus multifasciatus by sumertiwari, on Flickr














































And here is a FTS-









I also made a small video of my tank. Watch it here-






Hope you all liked the pictures and videos.
Any comment, suggestion, constructive criticism is welcome 

Thanks,
Sumer.


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## 02redz28

Wow... Those Altos are sweet. I've never seen them with quality photos or video. I think the tank looks sweet! Very nice indeed!


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## rennsport2011

To answer your questions...

The comps... the males are MUCH bigger than the females as adults. If they have bred, the males will be bigger.. even at a small size you can usually be pretty reliable with size alone.

Next, most quality pellets are pretty close to about the same. NLS is a good food, Xtreme is good, Dainichi is good... plenty of good quality stuff. Some frozen brine shirmp, mysis, plankton, or even live food such as scuds will be appreciated.

----

Now, to the bad stuff... your tank simply isn't big enough for the two types. You could get a 15 gallon and move the multifasciatus to that tank, keeping the comps in the 20 gallon.


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## sumertiw

rennsport2011 said:


> To answer your questions...
> 
> The comps... the males are MUCH bigger than the females as adults. If they have bred, the males will be bigger.. even at a small size you can usually be pretty reliable with size alone.
> 
> Next, most quality pellets are pretty close to about the same. NLS is a good food, Xtreme is good, Dainichi is good... plenty of good quality stuff. Some frozen brine shirmp, mysis, plankton, or even live food such as scuds will be appreciated.
> 
> ----
> 
> Now, to the bad stuff... your tank simply isn't big enough for the two types. You could get a 15 gallon and move the multifasciatus to that tank, keeping the comps in the 20 gallon.


Yeah Jon told me that they have bred with him. And yes I have noticed, a big one and a small one- they always live close and they dont ever let anyone come near them. But they both look same in terms of colors and bars. The bigger one sometimes get dark color. Maybe thats a pair.
And yes I know the tank isn't enough for them. Actually Jon sent me some extra multies that I wasn't expecting. His generosity  I will soon shift them to another 20 gallon thats lying around. 
Thanks for all your help


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## Deeda

Beautiful tank setup and your pics are awesome! Thanks for sharing and congrats on getting the 'sumbu'.


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## Tex Chappy

Love the Altolamp dwarfs!


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## kuopan

wow amazing tank! love the pics - such great detail! I want to keep these altolamp sumbu dwarfs too!


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## sumertiw

Thanks everyone 
I am liking these lil Altos.
I just got NLS Thera A+ and Cichlid formula. They seem to like it


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## notchback65

Tank and pics are great! :thumb:


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## Floridagirl

Sumbu Comps are on my list. I haven't gotten around to them yet, but they look very interesting to keep! Nice pis!


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## anthonymb

stunning tank. keep us updated


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## sumertiw

Thanks everyone.
They have been doing great. Eating good (food and multies' eggs) LOL.


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## JimA

Some of the nicest pics of fish I have seen here!


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## Razzo

Outstanding pics and fish! 

Cheers,
Russ


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## 801boon

Wow , this is why I love tanganyika tanks ! Looks amazing.


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