75g Tropheus Tank Update!

[newb]

Brain,

to clean the sand I normally just skim the top to get what I can. Sometimes I put my hands down in it and turn it over slowly as to not throw sand everywhere. If air bubbles are coming out of the sand...I believe that is bad, so i just do it until I dont see air coming out anymore. Congrats on the trophs...thats a very cool varient, I almost got some myself. as for feeding, I would try and feed only once a day for the first two or three days and then bump it up to twice a day. I would feed them what they are already being fed, and if you want to change it just slowly add what you want them to eat in with every feeding...a little more each time until they are eating what you want them to. Personally, I buy Dainichi Veggie Deluxe baby, Dainichi Veggie FX baby, Dainichi Color Supreme small, and NLS cichlid formula and just all of it in a container and shake it up real well. Then I use a tspn and just give them a single scoop per feeding. I was doing big water changes 1x per week for a while and had decent breeding luck...then I switched to 2x 50% water changes weekly and the breeding has just went nuts. Good luck with them...PUT UP SOME PICS

[TaTeR ToT]

can i feed them today?
and if so what time today?

[aggrofishkeeper]

Some say to not feed them for 24 hours, I fed mines after a few hours to see if they would eat. They did, so I wasn't as worried. But when I fed them I fed them very very lightly like maybe a small pinch between my thumb and index finger. After feeding I turn off the lights and let them chill.

From what I read some feed them after a few hours of letting them settle in to see if they have bloat or stressed. Most of the guys on here seem to prefer not to feed them for a day or 2.


The guys who have been keeping these fish for years on here prefer that you feed a small portion 1x a day and bore them until they settle in and then up the feeding to 2x-3x a day 1tsp each.

[Mzungu]

Why do you turn off the lights right after feeding?

Also, what do you mean by "bore them"?

[aggrofishkeeper]

Why do you turn off the lights right after feeding?

Also, what do you mean by "bore them"?

I turn off the lights to let them relax. They are much more calmer when I have the lights off. When I say "bore them" I mean don't hoover over the tank and keep activity in the tank's room to a minimum.

[fishlady]

i've had my tropheus for over a year...grew them up from f1 fry..now i have a mass factory of breeding chimbas..with tons o babies.....i feed them once a day....i skim the sand once a week....when i do a water change....
but i wouldn't feed them and immediately turn off the lights....this in my opinion doesn't promote them to move around as much thus setting them up to get bloat easier...let them have at least 2-3 hours of light after you feed them to promote them to digest better....

but then again this is just my 2cents worth...
Brian you've seen my colony more than once and know that they are healthy beyond reason.....

[aggrofishkeeper]

i've had my tropheus for over a year...grew them up from f1 fry..now i have a mass factory of breeding chimbas..with tons o babies.....i feed them once a day....i skim the sand once a week....when i do a water change....
but i wouldn't feed them and immediately turn off the lights....this in my opinion doesn't promote them to move around as much thus setting them up to get bloat easier...let them have at least 2-3 hours of light after you feed them to promote them to digest better....

but then again this is just my 2cents worth...
Brian you've seen my colony more than once and know that they are healthy beyond reason.....

I don't immediately turn off the lights, I watch them observe to make sure they are ALL eating. Which is like a good 30 minutes then I turn off my big lights and I have a 24 LED strip light (Moon Light) that I leave on all day to leave a little light for them. I just notice less aggression with the huge bright lights off. With the lights on they seem to be more skittish. And they are not at a stand still when I turn off the lights, they like to sit in front of the powerheads and return hose and ride the waves.

This is just my method, and it seems to be working. By no means does anybody have to listen or care about what I have to say.

[myjohnson]

Comes from the man (Pablo) himself, "there is another kind non-pathogenic bloat that occurs by feeding too much in the evening just before the light is out. Insufficient oxygen condition for metabolic activity force the fish to gasp for air."

He goes on to write, "First of all, we can not presume an aquarium has no plants; and plants are not the only things that compete for oxygen at night. Very few aquariums are devoid of algae - which is just as bad. To make matters worse, the decrease of energy requirements also slows down the digestive process, which leads to undigested food settling in the stomach for a prolonged period of time.
In the case of non-pathogenic bloat, it is more prevalent in outdoor situations. I have lost thousands of fish in the past with such practices. I have lost some fish with my indoor personal aquarium as well. Some fish are more susceptible than others in both saltwater and freshwater, so it is prudent not to tempt fate. Do you like to eat a regular big meal before you go to bed at night? I am sure you could come up with many reasons why you shouldn't."

I feed my fishes 8 times a day. Last feeding is at 8 and tank lights out at 9. Room lights out between 12-1am.

p.s. I think water temp and flow rate also plays a large role in the energy requirements of a fish while the lights are out which Pablo does not address here.

[aggrofishkeeper]

I'll try to leave the lights on longer than.

[geoff_tropheus]

If I know I have to turn the lights off early, I only feed about 1/3 of the normal.

I always try to leave the lights on 1-4 hours after their feeding. I believe it helps them to better digest their food, for exactly the reasons what Thai posted about Pablo.

[TaTeR ToT]

very cool!
thanks for the info.
can i feed them now?
or should i wait until tommarrow morning?

[TaTeR ToT]

btw, they are like .5"tl average, they are 20 day old fry.

[CichlidFan]

just another tid bit for you.....my chimba's, that I kept at my old warehouse, were only fed 5 days a week, they fasted on saturday and sunday...when I was off and not at the warehouse....they did pretty good though, the showroom where I kept them, allowed alot of sunlight to produce some nice algae for weekend snacking....

Part of Fishladys' colony are F1 fry from my W/C's ....they came from fishcrazy out in beaumont...back in 07.

CF

[myjohnson]

very cool!
thanks for the info.
can i feed them now?
or should i wait until tommarrow morning?

depends on the drive dude. If it's from down the street and it was a 3 min car ride then feed them like nothing has changed.

If they been shipped in from out of state I would not feed for up to 2-3 days.

Just depends on their over all condition and how long the shipment time was.

Use common sense you learned from keeping all your other fishes bro.

Tropheus are hardier than most people give them credit for.

[TaTeR ToT]

alright, i will feed them in the morning.
i have a bunch of pics of them, just need to post them.

they school a little bit, and love going in and out of the rocks exploring the little caves:)
i love them!
they are so frickin cute.

i will post the pics when i get time.