# Calvus tankmates



## ingeniousblue (Jun 7, 2011)

Hi, i'm purchasing 5 3cm black calvus and am wondering if i can keep any shell
dwellers with them. other tank mates i am considering are
3 princess cichlids 
3 juliochromis dickfieldi
3 lemon cichlids
3 5 bar lamprologus
12 tropheus moliro

i'd want to buy about 8 - 10 shelldwellers. 
its a 600ltr tank, 6,2,2.

any advice?


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## ingeniousblue (Jun 7, 2011)

also, in which order should i add them to the tank?


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## mike1234 (Feb 16, 2010)

Princess are brichadi? Bad idea. Kill everything when spawning
Lemon are prob malawis, again not good
Trophs are a poor choice too. Different diet
And trets kill everything unless kept as one fish
Julies should be ok.
Start Shellie and work up


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## ingeniousblue (Jun 7, 2011)

fair enough, avoid princesses, lemons ARE from tanganyika, just curious because i have seen
people keep these species together with no issue. did a bit of research, and yeah, probably just
one tret if i do go with them. 
what would you recomend? so far the only definite thing is the black calvus.


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## ingeniousblue (Jun 7, 2011)

got a 6x2x2 tank, 600ltr, with 5 3cm black calvus,
any recomendations for tankmates?


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## shellies215 (Jan 7, 2011)

The lemons are leleupi, they should not be kept with shell dwellers, and probably not with dickfeldi either.


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## Anthraxx8500 (Feb 11, 2011)

id do shellie cyps calvus and maybe a pair of julies (give the julies an isolated rock pile when they pair off) should work out.


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## ingeniousblue (Jun 7, 2011)

okay scratch everything... so far I only have black calvus,
shell dwellers would be nice but please recomendations for tank mates
for a 600 ltr for only 5 black calvus.


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## mike1234 (Feb 16, 2010)

when i hear lemon cichlid, locally its usually yellow labs, but it makes sense with lelupi. haha i agree with the cyps shellies and julies along with the calvus. punks may work too, in place of the julies.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The fish in my signature 125G are doing well together. You could do shellies instead of the Callochromis.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

I would go one of two ways.

Calvus & leleupi, Julidochromis marlieri or regani or Chalinochromis with a large colony of Cyps.

Or

Calvus, shelldweller, Julidochromis dwarfs.. marlieri gombe, transcriptus or ornatus... or Telmatochromis vittatus/bifrenatus, or Neolamprologus buescheri... with a large colony of Cyps..


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## Longstocking (Aug 26, 2003)

Calvus are one of the fish that get along with most tangs. Seeing that you have such a large tank.... why not try some sand sifters or feather fins. Then add some Paracyps and or Cyps.


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## Bodenhimer (May 1, 2011)

Try some of these. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... qpxNL6wklI rock dweller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... tQ3pxwH6EQ sand sifter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... O3UnMr3HN0 cyps mid to upper part of tank

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39s-hOlJ ... detailpage mid to upper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnuJPFxb ... detailpage shell dwellers gold peraly occelatus speciosus, brevis multi bottom part tank


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

No need for two threads on the same topic. Thread merged.


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## ingeniousblue (Jun 7, 2011)

thanks for the advice guys, have a few decisions to make now!


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## brucem (Aug 12, 2009)

Sandsifters are great with calvus.

I've got a trio of adult calvus with 8 Xenotilapia flavipinnis, 2 pair of brevis, pair of Juli regani and Pair of paracyps. I love watching this tank. The Calvus rule the roost, but quite passively. Julis hang around the rock pile and breed regularly, brevis pairs have shells at opposite ends of the tank and rarely cross paths, paracyps hang around a large upright rock on one side.

Good luck with the decision


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## J.B. (Jul 14, 2007)

I think it depends on what the OPs plans are, which he/she hasn't stated. Is your goal to have the different species spawn for you, or do you just want a nice Tang community, and if some spawning happens, it happens?

I've got a 125g (72x18x20) and have several of the species you are considering, and others, and they are all peacefully living together. My goal was to have a busy Tang community, and I'm not concerned with spawning. I achieved my goal!

The species I have are A. calvus 'inkfin', A. compressiceps 'yellow', N. brichardi, N. sexfasciatus 'gold', N. cylindricus, N. leleupi, J. marlieri and Syno. petricola. I've males/females of each species, but there hasn't been any spawns.

I've got a colony of L. multifasciatus in species-only tank and the colony is getting too large. So, I'm considering moving a male and a few females into the 125g to see how things work out. Again, I'm not interested in them spawning in there, I just want to see how they interact with the other species they might normally encounter in the wild.

Look forward to seeing what your final selection is...


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## ingeniousblue (Jun 7, 2011)

Have obtained some julies to go with the comps and calvus, and have decided on neolamprologus cylindricus, petricola cats, and some species of sand shifter, but I don't know which species or where to obtain it. Still playing with the idea of lemon and princess cichlids/ 
I don't want to breed, if it happens it happens, I just want an interesting feature tank.


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