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BUT they can mouthbrood for a month, even five weeks; the shortest occasion happened here was 4 weeks.

if undisturbed they can take care as much as 6 weeks.

but once the fry is rejected by the parents a final time, you should be fast! or else they get eaten.
adding floating plants is needed, for some reason baby phyllonemus go up in a breeding tank, likely to avoid predation.

if you have duckweed or pistia floating around, you'll save many babies.

you could also strip them, but for ethical reasoons I oppose the stripping of mouthbrooding fish.

Phyllonemus aren't in demand anyway, so I'd prefer a smaller number of naturally reared and well-imprinted youngsters over a larger bunch of fry that might be unsellable and will have issues when people try to breed with them.

also, like other small predators from Tanganyika, feeding the fry can be tricky unless you have live food like artemia nauplii or microworms.

you can start feeding these about 3 weeks after the parents spawned cause that's when the yolk is mostly used and the fry starts to feed

I used a tiny fullel with a bit of airhose attached to aim a stream of water with nauplii in the parental cave

if you do this you'll end up with fry that is significantly larger and more healthy than fry that hasn't beed fed until collection after breeding care stops.

I have had spawns starved as well. took a bit of trial and error to find this out.

once the fry is eating well you can add decapsulated eggs, cyclops and finely crumbled flake to their artemia diet and in a period of a few weeks wean them off the live stuff.

this method has worked best for me. I tried several others but this one worked best.

Hello all,
my wildcaught Phyllonemus typus (2m/2f), now housed in a 60 litre tank, will be moved tonight
to a 200 litre tank.
The other fish in the tank are 2 Tanganyikan spiny eels (Mastacembelus tanganicae) and one couple
of tanganyikan Cichlids.

Phyllonemus wrote:Hello all,
my wildcaught Phyllonemus typus (2m/2f), now housed in a 60 litre tank, will be moved tonight
to a 200 litre tank.
The other fish in the tank are 2 Tanganyikan spiny eels (Mastacembelus tanganicae) and one couple
of tanganyikan c*****ds.

How big are the eels? I was talking to a very knowledgeable chap the other day who recounted several personal experiences of eels eating cichlids up to a fifth their size.....

Mastacembelus tanganicae is the smallest of the Tanganyikan Spiny eels. for about 20cm total lenghts.
The cichlid in the tank will be a pair of Julidochromis Dickfeldi (size approx. 10-cm)
The mouth of the Spiny eels are to small to eat this semi adult cichlids, but cichlid fry is'nt safe.

Thes are the 2 spniny eels :

A-ha - these are not the varieties we discussed (or at least they don't look like the ones he showed me) & at 20cm these should be fine - better safe than sorry though

Richard, did you discuss Mastacembelus moori ?
This Tanganyikan spiny eel is approx 50cm or so and a real killer.

The ones he had at the time were albomaculatus & ellipsifer but discussed others as the chap used to work at the lake & has a lot of knowledge & experience

So, the first picture of the "new" Phyllonemus typus Wildcaught Tanganyika tank.



The other tanganyikans in this tank are :
Mastacembelus Tanganicae 2x (tanganyikan Spiny eels).
One pair of Neolamprologus Obscurus F1.
Altolamprologus compressiceps male.

the Obscurus Cichlid pair hast to be removed because they are much intimidating too the phyllonemus.
The will be replaced by some free swimming cichlid species.

Is it true that when freeswimmers in the upper half of the tank are present, the phyllonemus are going too feel more comfortable ?

Is it true that when freeswimmers in the upper half of the tank are present, the phyllonemus are going too feel more comfortable ?

I think it would help...but I also think it is more the amount of cover that makes them feel comfortable...if they can feel like they can dash to safety quickly than they may be out and about more.

You have to keep in mind their nature is too stay in or under cover all day and then roam freely at night so it is difficult for them to change this habit. They will come out to check on things that are going on or to steal eggs if fish are spawning but will rarely be out in the open.

If a typus is freely swimming out in the open it can also be cause for alarm, sometimes they will do this if recently roughed up or if food competition is too great and if not addressed when spotted doing this they may soon be lost.

Birger

Some new pics of my Phyllonemus typus and tanganyika spiny eels Mastacembelus tanganicae.

Mastacembelus tanganicae :





Phyllonemus typus :

Hmmm.. you people keep posting these awesome fish and i have to think, do I set up another tank for them?

What size tank do you currently have them in? I would consider a 20 gallon long, but do not know if that would be sufficient for them and some cyprichromis.


BTW, how sure are you that that altolamp is really a male? It has more characteristics of a female than a male. IMO

nvcichlids wrote:
What size tank do you currently have them in? I would consider a 20 gallon long, but do not know if that would be sufficient for them and some cyprichromis.

Tanksize is 100cmx40cmx45cm
Future tankmates are Paracyprichromis and not Cyprichromis, Cyprichomis require more swimming space.

nvcichlids wrote: BTW, how sure are you that that altolamp is really a male? It has more characteristics of a female than a male. IMO

100% sure male, he was one of a couple, they had multiple spawns.

nvcichlids wrote:Hmmm.. you people keep posting these awesome fish and i have to think, do I set up another tank for them?

Yes you have !

Some new pictures from my cats ! :

Is it possible to combine small Synodontis lucipinnis, (they are F1, and 1 " size) with fully grown Phyllonemus typus, without being eaten ?

I would think they would be okay but I would not want any typus to attempt it and then have them get stuck so I am not sure I would do this at this size. 1.5 or 2 inch would be no problem.

I would also feed them during the day as well if combined, the larger typus may out compete them.

Birger