Paretroplus menarambo

[AlishanAS]

Anybody out there keeping these Madagascar cichlids? I have a trio in too small a tank.
I know gregga has spawned the ones he picked up at a rare fish raffle.

[YoungAquaticPhotos]

Here are Tom's:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/YoungAquaticPhotos/DSC_0633PareMenarambo.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/YoungAquaticPhotos/DSC_0687ParaPolleni.jpg

[FishWife]

They are pretty....which meets FishWife criteria. Hehehe

[Julie]

I've never kept them, but I think that Lou Rovner, and maybe John Luckshire have kept them. Lou's been enormously sucessful in breeding the Madagascar fish he's kept. Check with him!

[AlishanAS]

Julie,

Those are from Lou.

He gave a group to me for the "other" site's auction.

Gregga, a member of this site, won a group of them and was successful in getting them to spawn. Unfortunately the eggs did not hatch.

[gregga]

hey guys.....

fascinating fish to keep.

I have had "some" luck. In all, I have 7 of these malagazy fish in the 5"-7" range. The original three from the raffle, plus 4 that Lou Rovner generously provided and Julie helped ship (I'm grateful to both).

It appears I have 2 pairs from the 7. When I first got these guys, they went into a 240g to grow out. The schooling behavior is very cool. However, during some moving of tanks and fish, they got put into a 90g temporarily. Ironically, that's when the breeding behavior/pairing started. I'd like to move them back into bigger digs, but I've heard issues with these fish permanently losing pair bonds when moved or separated. Any thought on this?

A few other random thoughts:
- Like other Malagazy fish I've kept, these guys can eat. I can feed them 99x a day and they're always at the top of the tank for more. In fact, even in breeding mode, all behavior stops as the whole group comes to the surface.

- Usually when fish breed, they show off their most colorful dress. The menarambo lighten up, while the non-paired specimens stay darker. I've debated pulling the non-paired trio out of the tank the next time I see spawning behavior.

-So far, they appear to be totally non agressive to other species.

**************Alishan, what size tank are yours in?

[AlishanAS]

My three are in an undersized 55g. Unfortunately my lagest tank is a 72 bowfont occupied by a trio of T. otostigma.

[AMBUSHPREDATOR]

Those are nice freshwater Tang's

[fischfan13]

I've never kept them, but I think that Lou Rovner, and maybe John Luckshire have kept them. Lou's been enormously sucessful in breeding the Madagascar fish he's kept. Check with him!

John, how did you with your group?