by bae/cs.toronto.edu (Beverly Erlebacher)
Date: 29 Dec 97
Newsgroup: rec.aquaria.freshwater.cichlids
In article <19971227214101.QAA27899-at-ladder01.news.aol.com>,
R Colodney <rcolodney-at-aol.com> wrote:
>Any thoughts on how different types of julies do together. For example, regani
>& ornatus - or dickfeldi & marlieri? Can one mix & match? Thanks. Rcolodney
I had 5 J.marlieri and 6 J.dickfeldi in a tank for over a year, and they
did just fine together. They all paired up (except for the spare J.m),
and both pairs of marlieri were spawning and the dickfeldis were just
starting to spawn when the community was terminated by a Classic Heater
Disaster. It was a 30 gallon long tank, with about a third of the volume
taken up by an elaborate rockpile, mostly thin flat rocks separated by small
ones with some small flowerpots and pieces of pipe inside to provide a
complex maze full of the kind of tight crevices julies love. My intention
was to sell any surplus pairs and keep one of each, but the fish were doing
really well and the rockpile was full of fry and I couldn't figure out how
to catch the surplus!
I suggest you get at least four and preferably six of whichever species
you go for to be more sure of getting pairs if you are buying fish too
young to sex. If you see any mismatched pairs forming, break them up
to prevent interspecies crosses.
I particularly liked the marlieris - extremely nice fish with pleasant
temperments and gingham-check markings. Btw, julies will pair up months
before they are old enough to spawn. I think I'm going to get rid of my
3 survivors (all males) and start over with babies again. I'd like to
try J.transcriptus and/or J.ornatus this time, if I can find good ones.
Btw, the tank had a sand substrate and a patch of vallisneria plus Java
fern and Java moss on the rocks. Also a floating layer of duckweed and
Limnobium (frogbit). Julies seem rather nervous about the top of the
tank, but having the floating plants seemed to make them feel more
secure and willing to grab food from the surface. The fry loved the Java
moss and seemed to find enough to pick off it and the rocks - I didn't
have to feed them specially - by the time they were leaving the rock pile
they were big enough to eat finely crumbled flakes.
by bae/cs.toronto.edu (Beverly Erlebacher)
Date: 5 Aug 98
Newsgroup: rec.aquaria.freshwater.cichlids
In article <6pu0d8$7lc$1-at-juliana.sprynet.com>,
Douglas Grant <dougrant-at-sprynet.com> wrote:
>I have njulidochromis dickfeldi - how do you tell the male from the female?
>Is it simply the size? I bought 5 from a LFS and figured that I would get a
>mixed population. Unfortunately, they all look the same.
Julies can be almost impossible to sex when young, J.dickfeldi in
particular. Mature males will be somewhat larger, somewhat brighter
in color, more active and likely to spread fins in display, etc.
However, one great thing about julies is that the males have really
prominent genital papillae. You can sometimes even see the papilla
when the fish swims in front of a contrasting background. J.dickfeldi
have papillae that are the same fish belly white as their bellies,
so try to spot it in front of a dark background. Mature julies are
about as hard to vent sex as newborn babies. :-)
Unfortunately, I'm not sure at what age the papillae become visible.
Julies mature slowly, but may pair up long before they are mature
enough to spawn. They usually have to be at least a year old to spawn
but may pair up at 8-10 months. At that point you should be able to
sex them by their behaviour and be able to vent sex them relatively
easily.
These are nice fish, but when they first pair off, the odd-guy(s)-out
may suddenly get badly damaged, so keep an eye on things. Once a pair
is stable, the territory is quite small, as long as it's complex - e.g.
in a rock pile with many small holes, caves and crevices per volume,
they may defend a territory only 6" (15cm) or less in diameter.
by BigJohnW/webtv.net (John Wubbolt)
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999
To: apisto/pudge.listbox.com
Bob's correct in that almost all Julies will colonize. This also
happens with most of your Neolamprologus species, i.e. Brichardis,
Daffodils, Multifasciatus, almost all shell dwellers. I even enjoyed
this success with a quad of Apistogramma Bitaeniata. I had 2 different
ages of fry in the tank without being bothered by any of the females and
the male tolerated the older fry around so long as they didn't come into
the spawning cave. I had them set up in only a 20 gallon long. I
was pretty amazed when about 20 fry 3/4 inch long were tolerated near
new born fry. The older fry didn't attempt to eat the younger fry
either. Was a nice set up for quite a while.
John Wubbolt
The Krib
Fish/Animals
The Krib
