help needed with Pe Memarambo setup

[aulonocaradude]

i have a 135g tank my aim is to house 6 Pe Memarambo @2" need info on the plants,water parameters,decor,food and care. any and all info will help...thanks for looking

[ciclasoman]

Wow! Really a broad question, I may miss a few details but see if I can make any sense:
1.first off-135 gallons is a bit tight once 6 fully grown, maybe someone else cares to comment, I would use a larger tank but the dimensions may be secondary if the tank provides maximal floor space. In other words a larger surface area is more important than a deeper tank.
2. Use as much River sand as you can 3 inch works well
3 large smooth boulders for spawning or vertical flat rocks
use lastic plants if you must, live plants are good eating but expensive diet.
Water conditions must be simply kept clean, weekly water changes 30%, maintain temp around 76-78 and a bit higher if spawning- usually rapid cooling sets off the spawning process.
Diet is not a problem if varied, avoid live foods unless you can raise snails to keep Ich at bay(this is the arch enemy of all malagasy fish).
best of luck

[aulonocaradude]

thanks for the info...helped alot

[sidguppy]

don't rush with the big tank, though

Paretroplus are like Bonsai trees. they grow slow, very slow.

it'll be at least 2 or 3 years before they're passing the 6-7" mark and at that size this tank is still plenty big enough

also: it's best to start with a larger group. they can be very nasty in small groups. best get 8-10 or so and raise them; once they are 8" or so, you can either buy a larger tank or select.


anyway; from 2" to 8" takes a few years.

[aulonocaradude]

thanks i will try to aquire 6 to 8 of them adult color is yellow or grey i seen a pic of a yellow male with reddish tail fin edge..on cichlid-forum

[sidguppy]

I find the color hard to describe, apart from the red fins.
it all depends on how good the tanklight is......

I've seen some real fabulous pics of fully grown Menarambo

dunno how it is with copyrights and all, but here's a link to a beautiful picture by Oliver Lucanus:
http://www.arkive.org/media/2F/2F87D81E ... /photo.jpg

[aulonocaradude]

well i got a small group of six doing well in the tank sofar i'm feeding nls grow which they are taking slowly and other recomendations on food types..thanks for the photo sidguppy.......