Ready for Colony now

[Lawsman]

Okay, finally got new tank set-up this weekend. It's a 156 RR with PM wet/dry running with two Mag 7's. Damn, I'm flowing water . Used old substrate, so should be good there as well. Also have an canister filter running in it just to get the beneficial bacteria established.

So, now I need to determine what Troph Colony I want to keep and where I should buy them from? I'm new at this Troph thing, so have no idea what ratio of females to males is best? Any suggestions?

[geoff_tropheus]

Looks like you have a really nice setup and are ready to go as soon as your confident your aquarium is properly cycled.

My suggestion for a first colony is to find one locally. This way the fish are acclimated to Houston water, the seller will have the fish eating foods, and even possibly already breeding.

Wether the colony is wild caught, tankraised generations, or pondraised who know's what, I would look to local people selling a colony first.

You can get a first colony from a importer, but even still, there will be some acclimation required to your waters, and foods that you will feed. Not to metion shipping, and just added stresses on them and you for transport and whatnot. Taking this route atleast the importer should have them purged and eating before he sells them to you. If not this will be rather difficult.

You can get with a importer and have fish brought in, but this is really better for more experienced people, because it will take a lot more time to work with the fishes to get them eating and used to being in Aquaria.

I am not trying to steer you in any one direction, but lots of times people "cut their teeth" on Duboisi colonies. Duboisi are more settled fishes, and in my opinion are the best tropheus anyway. It is really hard to find to match the color transformation they have from juvinile to adult colorization. They are my personal favs so I am a bit bias here, but seriously start searching and reading everything you can and look at as many photos as possible.

Then decide, because if your not happy with your choice, you would have spent a lot of money for nothing, that could come back and bite you.

Plus you dont want unhappy fishes, you want them to be as happy as possible. The happier they are, the happier you will be, trust me...

Best of luck and let us know what you pick!!

[stevenallenbarnard]

Newb has anawesome Duboisi colony for sale. If I could find someone to buy my first born, I'd probably grab them myself, lol

[newb]

If you are interested...here ya go.

http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=31397

[Lawsman]

Thanks for the info. I would like to stay local as well. I have well water and fish seem to love it! No added chemicals.

Wife is not a big fan of dubosi, but please let me know what else is out there and where to find them?

[geoff_tropheus]

Can you list your location in your profile please?

[tbui1178]

I would listen to Geoff, he's got a wealth of knowledge. From my brief experience, I totaly agree with his statements above.

[Lawsman]

Location in profile updated

[mgarrido]

Thanks for the info. I would like to stay local as well. I have well water and fish seem to love it! No added chemicals.

Wife is not a big fan of dubosi, but please let me know what else is out there and where to find them?

what are you looking???? Fry, juvies, adults??? Wife has any specific variant or color in mind?
+1 for newb's dubs, that colony is awesome!

[Lawsman]

Juvies or adults! We kinda want something unordinary-not often collected, but still colorful. The tank is in the bedroom so..............

[bethesdaboy]

Do not get something unordinary-not often collected.
First group is for learning, so get some fry.

[geoff_tropheus]

With first time colonies there is risk. If you get something rare, and your inexperince results in fish loss or colony total loss, it's not just some misfortune or mishap, it would be a tragedy of nature, a blight to mother nature herself.

[myjohnson]

It would be a sad thing to see a rare colony get flushed.

[Lawsman]

Agreed. It would be a tragedy. I'm not saying I know everything about Troph'ts, but I have kept all kinds of freshwater fish including Malawi's, Salt water fish, reef tanks,etc. So, I am not new to the hobby and have bought and read a few Tropheus books and have done major research as well.

With that said, I know what you guys are saying and understand your point. I have been an aquarist for over 25 yrs! I have learned the hard way!

I have a set up with wet/dry pumping out at least 800 GPH. for a 156 gallon tank, plenty of water line water movement for oxygenation and a small canister rated at 220 GPH at o head, so maybe 100 GPH with 6' head. So, I have the filtration and undersatnd the need to keep nitrates low with frequent water changes.

[russ]

to bad oldgezzer sold his murago...not greatly rare but not seen all that often either!the longer the person had the colony you decide to buy the more acclimated they are.i also must say that i agree with the others,but its your tank and money!