Shy Congochromis

[raymond82]

Hi,

I have two pairs of Congochromis sabinae, three of them are very outgoing and go around the tank with the three of them all the time. However, one female is hiding in a cave all the time, I haven't seen her out at all since I have them (which is two weeks now).

She's fine in there, but I have to lift the cave every once in a while to see if she didn't die which is probably stressful for her. Is there anything I can do to make her come out?

 

[slimbolen99]

Add some dithers, and add more overall cover. Mine like lots and lots of anubias or oak leaves.

 

[aquaticclarity]

Some of the lasmp eye killies would be a GREAT dither fish as they stay near the surface of the water, are very active, and most are very mellow. I'd look toward the Aplocheilichthys spp. first (Some have been moved to a new genus Congopanchax as well). A. normani is a great choice that is pretty readily available (at least in the US) and inexpensive but really any of them that you can find would be great.

And like slimbolen said. rearrange the decor of the tank and add as much cover as you can. How big of a tank are these fish in?

 

[raymond82]

Thanks for your comments! I have to admit they are in a small tank now (10 gallon) but they will move to a bigger one soon. Since they're still juveniles I thought I could get away with it for now...

They do have floating plants, coconut caves and some oak leaves on the bottom but I will ad some plants so the middle part of the aquarium will provide some more cover too. Three of them are out all the time, there's only one female that hides. Would it be an idea to separate her?

A. normani is also readily available here, I'm going to have a look if I can find something less common (I've become a bit picky with choosing fish...) but if I can't find anything I'll get myself some of these. I was planning on putting some killifish with them, I was thinking of an Epiplatys spp. I just saw pictures of Poropanchax brichardi (or Congopanchax) and that's a really nice species!! Don't remember ever seeing them but I'm gonna ask around!

 

[aquaticclarity]

I've gotten A. brichardi in once. Incredible fish but they don't get very large so you need to be careful what fish you mix with them. They are not an easy fish to come by and when I brought them in from Zaire/Congo almost all of them were DOA on arrival. That's a pretty common problem with tiny fish in extended travel. They just plain run out of food and end up dropping quickly.

 

[raymond82]

That explains why I've never seen them...

There's a shop around where I live where they regularly have imports from West Africa, next time I'm there I'll inform if they ever have them. In the mean time maybe I can try with Epiplatys annulatus.

 

[aquaticclarity]

The Epiplatys will work and I've used those in that capacity myself but they tend to be a little shy themselves if not in a large group and aren't always out and about in a noticeable way. That's why I really like the lamp eyes, they are active to say the least!

 

[raymond82]

I agree, the E. annulatus are also quite shy. I have a pair of E. olbrechtsi olbrechtsi that need a temporary home, I'll put them in the tank to see what happens. Later I'll buy a small school of Aplocheilichthys (like) spp.