# Leleupi Aggression...



## Jaciesla (May 2, 2012)

Hello all,

In my standard 55 gallon tank I have 6 young gold occies (3males two females and one unknown), two paracyprichromis nigripinnis (male and female), a zambian blue spot goby, a albino long finned pleco, and a pair of Neolamprologus Leleupi. Although the Leleupi male is only about as long as your pointer finger, he is quite the aggressor in the tank, particularly toward his female (who is in constant hiding). The tank has lots of hiding spots for everyone but I was curious as to what I could do for this poor female?! As soon as he sees her he chases her and nips at her find and flanks. The male only seems to bother the female and the goby (if he gets too close). Thanks for any advice!

 Jaciesla

:fish:


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

Take out everything but the leleupi. keep the tank to pure tangs. leleupi are a mean fish anyways. All tangs are. If you watch the videos of the jewels of the rift you will see why they are so mean. Tangs are hard to keep in tanks and get a good match because of aggression.


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## Vamze (Feb 16, 2012)

Somewhat like this? ;o)

N. Leleupi are aggressive fish. Is the female seriously hurt? The behaviour you are describing makes me think they are breeding (or preparing for it). When my leleupi are breeding I won't see the female for 3 weeks, and if I happen to catch a glimpse of her, the male will promptly chase her back in the cave.

Picture are of 2 of my Leleupi. I have 10 in a 190g tank.


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## Jaciesla (May 2, 2012)

Thank you both for the advice and that is an awesome photo! I do enjoy the vibrant colors the Leleupi bring to my tank but the main fish focus in my tank are my shellies, who the Leleupi male doesnt seem to bother. Maybe I should return them to my LFS and seek tamer tank mates?


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Leleupi aren't really pairing fish- one male can spread his attention across several females- so one option is to get more leleupi. However, they're likely to go after and potentially kill your female occelatus once the shellies start breeding. Returning them may be the best option.

A suggestion for more compatible tank mates are more gobies (get five more) and paracyps (they're schooling fish... try for a group of 8). Otherwise, calvus or small julidochromis (not regani or marlieri) will be better neighbors than leleupi.


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## Jaciesla (May 2, 2012)

Thank you for your suggestions  I am probably going to return them to the store. I did have two gobies (one conceivably bigger and more aggressive than the other) so I returned him to my LFS. I would love to get my hands on some more paracyps but I am still waiting for them to come up on Aquabid again. I have had bad luck with Calvus eating anything and everything they can fit into their mouths (Yellow Lab babies) so I am thinking about trying julies out but I have never done them before. I will look up different species under the profiles on the site.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

ratbones86 said:


> Take out everything but the leleupi. keep the tank to pure tangs. leleupi are a mean fish anyways. All tangs are. If you watch the videos of the jewels of the rift you will see why they are so mean. Tangs are hard to keep in tanks and get a good match because of aggression.


What? I'm thinking maybe you don't understand Tangs so well.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Jaciesla said:


> Thank you for your suggestions  I am probably going to return them to the store. I did have two gobies (one conceivably bigger and more aggressive than the other) so I returned him to my LFS. I would love to get my hands on some more paracyps but I am still waiting for them to come up on Aquabid again. I have had bad luck with Calvus eating anything and everything they can fit into their mouths (Yellow Lab babies) so I am thinking about trying julies out but I have never done them before. I will look up different species under the profiles on the site.


Alto's will eat fry, but are unlikely to eat anything very large, so I might suggest to try them again. If not, then go for some of the dwarf Julidochromis, as the larger ones can be just as hard on the shelldwellers as leleupi.

A group of Paracyps, the ocellatus and an Altolamprologus pair should make a nice tank.


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## Jaciesla (May 2, 2012)

If I decided to get some more Altos, should I get a small group and wait for a pair to form naturally? I am worried about them eating my potential occie fry. I have been looking at some Julidochromis transcriptus (Pemba) and have absolutely fallen in love with their colors (not to mention their adult size). How many should I keep in my tank?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

If will be very difficult for you to keep Altos, transcriptus, occies and Paracyps... I'd pick only two rock dwellers.

You can often keep one male, and two or three female Altos'... I would get six if you are getting juveniles, and letting nature take it's course. The Alto's will eat the occelatus fry, but then so will any and every other Tanganyikan. The occelatus provide poor parental care after the fry are free swimming, they are left to go where they want, no protection once they leave the shells. Even Julidochromis would eat them. If you go with Julidochromis juveniles, I'd go with six as well. Keep a pair. If you want to raise the occelatus, you'll need to pull the fry while they are still in the shell, and raise them separately.


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

My Occie parents eat the fry. I find very few fry survive in my Tang tanks(except Multis). You will have to move fry to another tank if you are trying to breed.


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## Darkskies (Mar 17, 2012)

Fogelhund said:


> If will be very difficult for you to keep Altos, transcriptus, occies and Paracyps... I'd pick only two rock dwellers.
> 
> You can often keep one male, and two or three female Altos'... I would get six if you are getting juveniles, and letting nature take it's course. The Alto's will eat the occelatus fry, but then so will any and every other Tanganyikan. The occelatus provide poor parental care after the fry are free swimming, they are left to go where they want, no protection once they leave the shells. Even Julidochromis would eat them. If you go with Julidochromis juveniles, I'd go with six as well. Keep a pair. If you want to raise the occelatus, you'll need to pull the fry while they are still in the shell, and raise them separately.


Doesn't a typical 55 gallon tang tank usually have a pair of Julies, a pair of calvus/comp, cyprichromis, and a shelldweller species? Are you saying it wouldn't work in this case because paracyprichromis are partial rock dwellers unlike Cyprichromis species?

Also, Multies might be a better choice for your shelldweller than ocellatus since they actually raise their young and protect them rather well from other tankmates(though I'm having issues with that haha)..


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## Jaciesla (May 2, 2012)

I have thought about getting Multies but I paid a pretty penny to get these guys shipped to mid-michigan from Cali and NY.


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## Jaciesla (May 2, 2012)

UPDATE:

I have taken my Leleupi back to my LFS and received credit. I have found an additional female for my Paracyps that I will be getting saturday (making it a trio) as well as a potential group of four Julies from Pruses pets in Lansing. 
Through all of this nonsense my occies are still protecting their shells like little sharks.


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