One of my Lake Tanganyika communities pairs the shell-dwelling Lamprologus ocellatus ‘gold’ with the more open-water Paracyprichromis nigripinnis. The shellies are a lot of fun to watch because they are very territorial and do not realize that they are small. The tank is a 50-gallon ‘breeder’ with a matten-filter wall (Poret foam) that is air driven with two lift tubes. The substrate is mostly white silica sand mixed with a little bit of darker fine gravel for contrast. The gold ocellatus dig quite a bit, and I keep them busy by stirring up the sand every water change.
Tag Archives: shell-dweller
Lepidiolamprologus hecqui with fry
One of the Lake Tanganyika communities in my fish room combines a small colony of Tropheus duboisi and a pair of Lepidiolamprolugus hecqui. The L. hecqui is a really cool shell-dwelling lamp that does not get as large, or as nasty, as the more familiar Lepidiolamprologus species (L. kendalli, for example). I started with six of them, but a pair quickly established their dominance and I had to remove the others. This video is from the pair’s first spawn. I will shoot a new clip soon to show how much they have grown in the past six months.
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