Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / November 2004

I picked up 7 Julidochromis regani and stuck them into a 40g tank by
themselves until I had a bigger tank ready for them.  Knowing about their
reputation for intolerance to each other, I piled rocks up the back of
the tank almost to the surface.  As fate would have it, their bigger tank
is still not ready and now after almost 1 year, my 40g is filled with
many Julies.

Contrary to their reputation, I've had no fatalities or serious damage.
The only damage I've infrequently seen is a split along the dorsal fin.
The tank is left alone (auto-feeder, 6g w/c week w/ gravel vac twice a
month), so I have a mat of algae growing on all the stones (even waves
back & forth in the currents), and a couple of plants growing along the
surface (though it's dimly lit with only a 25w).  Because they are always
ducking in & out of the rockwork (no ditherfish), I can't do a proper
headcount, but I'd guess there are 20-30 fry of various ages.  The
population is getting high enough that I'm having to be extra careful
about not disturbing the biological balance of the tank (never cleaning
all the filter or all the algae in one go).

While there isn't anything particularly notable about cichlids breeding,
I'm pleasantly surprised about their level of tolerance towards each
other and the fry (who swim without being threatened), in such a small
tank, and with a relatively intolerant fish.