Tropheus Bemba (Orange flame) Breeders

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I have had a 46gal bowfront tank awaiting fish for awhile now.... I would just decide on one species, then change my mind.... Today I was lucky enough to find a wild caught group of Tropheus Bemba (orange flame) for sale... The colony is very small with only 5 fish, but they had already established hiearchy, and were spawning!

The fish will be coming to my home tomorrow! I am super excited cause tropheus are my favorite fish, and I have yet to get them to spawn.... My oldest group of tropheus still have a few more months of trying until they get it right.... So now with this new group of tropheus bemba. I should have some babies really quick...... they will be gettin the 46gal to themself, its all set up with clay pots/plates for breeding areas, hiding spots.... I also have a tumbler ready for stripping... and everything is a go! So i should have some F1 Tropheus Bemba's for sale soon!

I started this jornal to kinda take you on a journy with me to my first successful spawn of the complicated tropheus!

More pictures to come tomorrow of the new group!

Good luck brother!

hey man the tank is looking awesome...great job
cant wait too see the new trophs...If you dont mind me asking wre did you get them from??

Tragedy! Today I had gotten my fish... to my dissapointment there are very few females.... 2 of them..... then another horrible thing happened.... one of the females died! So now I am left with five fish (there was 6 not 5 to start), 4 males, 1 female... and for some reason when i put them in my tank, they decided to fight worse than any fish i have ever seen!! BRUTAL!

So, I am thinking this is going to be another failed tropheus breedin attemp! HUGE DISSAPOINTMENT..... well, my goal to start this jornal was to take members on the jorney of tropheus with me... and that is exactly I am doin.... Tropheus are horribly difficult fish... with allot of downs.... but I WILL GET A SPAWN! and when I do, it will feel like such a great achievment!

Sidekicking - Got the fish from our soon to be newest sponsor... PET POURRI

Man tough brake friend. I am wondering where I stand with the salosi, Everytime I think I know the ratio another fish shows signs of being a male.

Good luck with these sand, they are really nice looking. I'll be watching this to see how it goes. I just got my first tropheus last weekend and it has been a rough start!

Diary entry 8-13-2010

So.... after observing the 5 tropheus bemba in there 46gal bowfront there was problems! I can see why everyone tells you do not keep less than 10 tropheus together in a tank... cause they will seriously kill eachother! So much aggression and territorial behavior... i honestly couldnt watch it.... So I pulled them and put them in my community tropheus tank...

Immediatly after that the aggression stopped! it was awesome.... today everyone is great, all happy together, I saw some pre spawning behavior goin on the the alpha male and the only female remainin in the group.... and they dont seem to bother the othe variants at all... which I was really worried about cause they just got over the bloat epidemic and the last thing i wanted was for them to get stressed again!

So there may be a light to the end of this dark tropheus tunnel.... stay tuned, I will update pictures and videos very soon.

Betty - What tropheus did you get?? you got a group of them? did you try and put a single troph with your mbuna's?? Ooooo, Now Im curious! How are you liking them/it..... even though all the disapointments Ive gone thru they are still by far my favorite fish to keep!

Diary Entry 8-15-2010

Aggression has increased again..... its not as bad as it was with the bemba in the 46gal alone, but it increasingly gets worse everday..... The bemba are back at it, but now have started everyone in on this! It originally was a peaceful tank befoer i introduced them, now its crazy!

Honestly I like the action in the tank... Im just worried this may be too much for them, and they fall into a bloat epidemic once again... Im prepared this time, and think I figured out a good formula that works. I dont want to have to use it though.

Diary Entry 8-17-2010

Things have settled down a little bit, but its still pretty aggressive in the tank.... Its so fun to watch though! Lots of agression display, territorial disputes, chasing, spawning display.... By far my favorite tank, and my favorite fish of all time. I will get a new video/photos so you guys can see...

Here is a quick video I did of the Bemba in there new home.... It has the other tropheus in it (kasanga, Mplungu, Muzi) as well as some Frontosa Mpimbwe

So I got to strip a couple days ago.... and got 1 egg... wooooohoooo! really waaaaaaaaay too much work for one egg.... all my fish are finally producing.... my discus pair seems to be gettin ready to do there thing in there new 20gal tall..... my rams been doin it for awhile.... peacocks got it down.... christmas fulu slowed since the the peacocks, but they still know what there doin.... and finally my tropheus! woooohooooo!