Xenotilapia papilio 'Tembwe II' do's or don'ts?

[sidguppy]

A few questions about this fascinating Xeno.

I've read Benoits' great article on it, but there are several questions I have, probably cause my french is too bad, Babelfish didn't work and last but not least; it's a new fish for me.

don't get me wrong; haven't bought it yet!

-can it be kept in a 1.30mx40cmx45cm tank? something over 200 liters.
the tank is in a real quiet room with few disturbances around.

-there are 11 Cyprichromis microlepidotus 'Mabilibili' in there too for breeding purposes. very mellow Cyps I might add. and 1 old grumpy Ancistrus, but I can remove him to another tank of similar dimensions if his nocturnal algae-grazing is a problem. good fish or bad fish?

-how many should I get? I think the best start would be good quality F1's; haven't seen wildcaughts in years, but f'1s are on several list. a small group? a larger group? just 2? looks like one of those 'unsexable' fish and I DO want to take a shot at breeding them.

-the tank is bare, except for Anubias growing on the backpanel and a few pieces of flagstone. and some Cryptocoryne's growing in the sand. "swim throygh foliage", sort of. I could add some shelters, though. good or bad?
bare tank or stones? do males get berserk when they can mark territories with the rocks?

other nasty critters are often easier to maintain in a tank without decorations (Tropheus for example). is this the same for the Tembwe II?

anything still missing in my questions: feel free to point me at them! any hints, tips or suggestions greatly appreciated. I want to get as much info as I can before I even think about ordering a box of Tembwe II's.

[Thomas Andersen]

Hi Sid,

here is an article in English as well: http://www.cichlidae.info/article.php?id=359 It pretty much sums of most of your questions I think, if not, feel free to ask again

All the best, Thomas

[EC]

other nasty critters are often easier to maintain in a tank without decorations (Tropheus for example). is this the same for the Tembwe II?

No, T2 are aggressive with or without rocks. You can take 4 or 5 and when you have the pair you must move the other. Ancistrus is not a good idea beacause can kill for food (usually aother loricarids).

Ciao Enrico

[sidguppy]

I never had any Ancistrus kill another one for food, but they are territorial. I've bred hundreds of baby ancistrus and males can be fierce to females.
but he's easily removed, so I'll put him in the other 1.3m +/- 200L tank. he can't harm the inhabitants in there, Phyllonemus typus and eels. a match I've made many times.

It's a good idea then too, cause without him the algae will grow. Tembwe's graze, right? they like filamentous and carpet algae/ cause I've got a very good green fuzzy and hairy algae growth in both tanks......

[EC]

but he's easily removed

I've had males and females killer but they have killed only loricarids (panaqolus, chaetostoma, etc.) and only in the food or reproduction time.
Probabily is not a common thing but T2 are very stressable and you can lost it in a day.

Ciao Enrico

[Thomas Andersen]

Tembwe's graze, right?

Not exactly grazers, but more pickers. They pick at the rocks for anything editable, and in that way they'll also pick up some algae. I can't remember the exact percentage, but the amount of algae found in their intestials are app. 5-10 %, the rest being small crustaceans and invertebrates.

If kept in a bare tank, you are certain that only one pair can be kept. If decorated in a strategic way, making visual barriers, you may be lucky keeping two pairs in a tank this size. It much depend on the level of aggression of the couples - some can be quite mellow, others are literally little warmachines.

Quarrels among couples are the same thing - some do, other doesn't, but can be avoided by either keeping more couples together, or with other fishes. Your C. microlepidotus will work fine and do the trick I think, by giving the couple something to point their aggression towards.

All the best, Thomas

[sidguppy]

revamping an old post, but it's my own and it's about this fish.

one for the breeders:
how are halfgrown papilio Tembvwe II colored?

I've found plenty pictures of fully grown fish (loads of excellent pix on this site), and also a fair number of tiny fry (also here, I read Thomas' breeding article with those stunning pix), but I can't find any pictures of a X papilio TII wich is, say, 1"-2".......

why I ask this: I know a great LFs in Germany wich has captive bred youngsters for a very nice price.

however, they show very little color or markings in the fins.
the ventrals of the Tembwe Deux should be marked with black and white rays, in between yellow.
and the unpaired fins (save the caudal) should show a lot of black and white and yellow as well.

the colors of the youngsters are very faint and the ventrals are clear.
the size is about 1", maybe 4-4,5cm for the larger ones.

Does this pattern emerge when they reach maturity? or are these youngsters perhaps inbred?

IMO I think it's better to buy captive breds than very fragile and very costly wildcaughts; for a fish I haven't kept before.

any thoughts on this? or even any pictures of halfgrown youngsters from Xenotilapia papilio Tembwe II?

SG

[EC]

the colors of the youngsters are very faint and the ventrals are clear.
the size is about 1", maybe 4-4,5cm for the larger ones.

Who are the tankmates? Are they F1? Do you give them live food?

Ciao Enrico

[sidguppy]

if I can remember; tankmates were baby paracyps or something.

the Xeno's were behaving perfectly normal.
about food; no idea, it's an LFS, not my home tank.

[EC]

about food; no idea, it's an LFS, not my home tank.

I think it's normal LFS don't show colours. My at that size was almost full coloured but they passed all the summer in a big pond and the natural food give them a lot of yellow. I don't think you can recognize good T2 or bad T2 in a LFS. You can only see if there's a good black in the fins but for yellow, white and blue you can't see.

Ciao Enrico

[Thomas Andersen]

Sid,

I'm raising a group of juveniles at this size now, I'll see if I can take some photos. Mine have yellow ventral fins at this size, but like Enrico said it could very well be the conditions in a sales-tank that make them appear a bit dull.

All the best, Thomas