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I am setting up a Kigoma biotope and was wondering if my 6 F1 would be from that location?

The TYPE LOCATION of P. typus and the Kigoma are at pretty much opposite ends of the lake.

Niomkolo, which is the type location of the P. typus is near the town of mpulungu [to the best of what I can gather], which is at the southern end of the lake. Google maps can show you where this is.

Kigoma is about 2/3 of the length of the lake north of Niomkolo.

I don't know if the fish is widespread in the whole lake, or if it's local to some areas. Fishbase's "occurrences" isn't working well either, so not much help. Ah, made it work by using a different instance of fishbase, and it seems like there are occurrences pretty much all over the lake.

--
Mats

my fishbase hasn't worked in a while.

I had read in abook its only in the southern half, then heard from people it is throughout the lake, which is why I was checking.

Looks like they will make the squeeze and if need be at a later day, be moved out.

Kigoma is just south of Burundi, at the northern end of the Tanzanian coast of Tanganyika.
Burundi is a well known spot of export of Phyllonemus typus; Verduijn imports them in great numbers from Mihelle Brichard
Michelle Brichards' Phyllonemus are from Magara and Nyanza Lac both. Nyanza Lac is just north of Kigoma; it's the most southern point of fish exports from Burundi
you can safely assume there will be typus at Kigoma if theres an intermediate habitat (sand and stones both, with muddy patches added) because that is where they are caught.

interesting fact: they get caught mixed with Lophiobagrus brevispinis but not with L cyclurus.....

Als: I have never seen Phyllonemus filinemus mixed with Burundi hipments, but I have heard about them being mixed in with Zambian typus shipment
if thats caused by a better separation of the different fish or by distribition of species, I have no idea
I suspect the latter, though; cause brevispinis is a lot mre different than 2 species of Phyllonemus and these 2 DO arrive mixed up


btw wich species of cichlids will be in that tank? Kigoma is a well known location of several varieties of both Tropheus and Ophthalmotilapia; but these are bad combinations with Phyllonemus due to dietary differences.
however, theres a very nice variety of Cyprichromis sp Jumbo Kigoma from there and that one IS a suitable candidate if they're large enough (1" Cyps are eaten by adult Phyllonemus with ease).
there's also a very nice variety of Altolamprologus compressiceps from Kigoma as well as a truly stunning variety of 'Lamprologus' brevis.

another fish that occasionally mkes it into the hobby is the Kigoma form of Cyathopharynx foai; the Emperor of the Featherfins ;)

WOW... thanks for htat info. It is greatly appreciated. I am getting F1 Typus at 1.25", so no worries about them eating anything I get at the moment.

As far as other fish, I am going with a Cyp species that was collected at Kigoma, I already have 4 Neolamprologus walteri, and some lamprologus ornatipinnis, a group of tang eels, and maybe some lamp. wauthoni's... the last one I am not sure about as no one has a collection local for the wildcaught groups they have. I am still investigating them, as they are a much larger groing "occellatus" species.

I am also awaiting my Local Fish Clubs order with a guy who has TONS of l. brevipinnis. I will definately be adding those!

Featherfins of any type are not on my lists, yet. And Frontosa's are always a NO with me same with tropheus (never really liked either). Like I said, right now I just have the walteri's, and will be getting the typus on 9/3 (day after my birthday present lol)

group of tang eels

Which species...I would think these may start doing the magical disappearing act(eating smaller fishes) before even the typus.

Birger

Mastacembalus tanganicae is what I was going to do. The guy I have spoken to said their mouths won't be big enough (fully grown) to eat any adult cichlids except multi's or similis. So if fry disappear before I can pull them (which I expect will happen) then they got a healthy meal I guess.

I've kept this species (also had M albomaculatus, moorii and ellipsifer); the tranganicae is very fragile and also prone top be outcompeted for food

for starters: it only accepts live food and very few frozen foods; artemia, bloodworms etc.
your best bet is live blackworms, small or chopped earthworms, live bloodworms, daphnia and so on.

it's NOT a good eel tocombine with a lot of catfishes. even a group of typus can cause tanganicae to starve to death.

the albomaculatus is a far better choice,since it's sturdy.
it's about the same length (both species reach about 8"), but unlike the pencil-thin tanganicae, this one is build like it's Asian counterparts.a bit more highbuild and flattened to the sides.

unfortunately it's also temperamented like some Asians; the best way to keep albomaculatus is single (tanganicae can be kept in groups).
this one can be fussy as well with food. but not as fussy as tanganicae.

the larger species are easier to keep (!). the ellipsifer will readily accept all inds of frozen foods, sometimeseven flake.
ellipsifer is highlysocial; they rest as a bunch of sticks in one pipe, ignoring empty hiding plasces.
there are several accounts where spawnings took place, the eggs are the same shade of green as peas.
it's a large species, able to reach 45 cm/18" , but usually it stays about 12-14"
it's able to feed on fish, but anything larger than a shellie or a small Cyp or sandcichlid is safe


the moorii however; now HERE is your nasty piscivore!
it is a gorgeous beauty, really stunning pattern, but it grows and grows.
I kept mine long after quitting keeping smaller Tanganyikans. first it stayed small, once I had the handfeeding down pat (it gets really tame) it started growing fast.
this eel reaches almost 3 feet and can get as thick as your wrist. mine wentto another home at 1.5 feet length; by that time it would eat small fish, shrimp, earthworms, pieces of shrimpmix, anything really.

HOWEVER
the eels seem to know that catfish are spiny. even the typus were completely safe
for example: my avatar? thatpicture was taken in the same tank where the moori was in; they have been kepttogether for over 2 years.
lucipinnis, brevispinis etc are also perfectly safe from eels

but the eels DO prey on cichlids. especially the larger ones.
the only eel I have never seen going after (small) fish is the tanganyicae, but then, getting that species to eat ANYThing is a challenge all by itself
in my experience it is the hardest to keep Tanganyikan eel.
well worth settingup a tank for, butif you want it to be succesful, you either go for catfish or go for the tiny eels

as Cyps etc go; they will be a great match for tanganicae

watchout with addingtoo many shelldwellers!
Lamprologines, especially the bottomdwelling ones, are VERY nasty to both Phyllonemus and eels
stackingup several species of fierce cichlids on the floorspace is NOT a good combi for tpus or eel.

I will take your advice and stick with one species of shellies (and only 6 fish.) I do not want anything happening to my typus. I might skip the shellies as well for this tank and set up a 20 gallon L for them for my wife.

With the eels, I love how the albomaculatus look, but the price tag is still quite steep. I might get a single one though, just to try my hand with it, and if all goes well, sell off some fry and keep getting more. I am extremely grateful for your advice, as I cannot find anyone locally that knows much if anything about typus, let alone the eels.

-Nate

i got them today...

Looks nice.

--
Mats

Thanks Mats, They all seem to have found some hiding spots, some of which just dove under a rock into the sand and have their heads poked out the other side.. assuming that is natural behavior LOL.

I have yet to see mine come out.. is this common when they are new in a tank? What could I do to prod them into the open? I will be reworking the tank (darker and more rock caves along with clay pot cave as seen used by others.

I am just worried because I NEVER see them.. even with lights out. I see sand kicked out from under rocks, but never see the fish.

This is what they do...hide all day and cruise at night, even in the wild.

They will eventually start to show themselves but sporadically. Try tempting them out with bloodworms at lights out or better yet give them something to chase after, you will hear the splashing going on...they are definitely shy at first, they will get used to your schedule.

I did find that the more cover there was the better chance of seeing them as they know they can dash somewhere if need be.

Birger

Birger wrote: or better yet give them something to chase after, you will hear the splashing going on...

What do you mean by this?

even a group of typus can cause tanganicae to starve to death...........................

I don't fully agree, I've kept the combination of Phyllonemus typus ( 2m/f, adult size) with 2 Mastacembelus tanganicae, and was handfeeding them 2 times a week.
Eels where looking well fed.
But when there are a lot of catfishes aroud I agree that the tanganicae will be out competed from food.

the only eel I have never seen going after (small) fish is the tanganyicae, but then, getting that species to eat ANYThing is a challenge all by itself
in my experience it is the hardest to keep Tanganyikan eel.

They are very fussy eaters indeed, mine where only eating earthworms and shrimps, only by handfeeding.

Am I able to sex the Phyllo's at 2" total length?

nvcichlids wrote:

Birger wrote: or better yet give them something to chase after, you will hear the splashing going on...

What do you mean by this?

What it means is some young cichlids about 1/2 inch or so would definitely get them out and about at night and you will hear plenty of splashing as they chase after them for a late night snack, for a typus there is nothing better.

Am I able to sex the Phyllo's at 2" total length?

I would say no...it can be difficult even with full grown adults with a practiced eye, best thing is let them decide from a large enough group, If someone says they can sex them at this size (2") they have x-ray vision

Birger

Thanks for all the help. Yesterday the dark rocks came in and I have the slate so I reworked the tank, made it much darker near the bottom and they seemed to really enjoy it. I saw all 6 out just after lights out last night.. I just wish my camera did better focusing with the lights out.

They really do have huge mouths. I dropped in a single shrimp pellet (like what you feed corydoras) to bait them to the front of hte tank... fish fish out there swallowed the thing.. i was like ... They all seem to have their own friend two.. as of yesterday they are 3 groups of 2... not saying pairs, just friends

i scrapped the whole " Kigoma" local only as I was given some fish that weren't from there. As of now, I have the 6 typus, 3 paracyprichromis brieni (2m/1f), trio of telmatochromis temporallis shell, and the walteri... which will soon be be gone for some neolamprologus obscurus and more paracyps brieni's,

typus, brieni and obscurus is a perfect mix!


just make sure youdon't buy small cichlids

as Birger said; the typus is sneaky.

if say,the tiger shovelnose would eat prey with the same body-prey size ratio as the typus; any regular tanksized TSN (2-3 feet) would eat adult Oscars......
they can and do feed on fish 1/3 their own length; if it's a slim fish (like brieni) they can tackle half.....I've seen 10 cm/4" typus feed on fully grown Poecilia salvatoris.

The typus are still very small. they are F1's which were bred by a guy locally. They have small tankmates currently (1-1.25") telmatochromis who are temperary but are producing fry for them to snack on.

The brieni I am ordering and teh Obscurus will be 1.25-1.5" each with the typus being 1.75" to MAYBE 2" total length.

I really cannot wait for the obscurus to come, and more brieni will complete the school (have 3 adults right now)

wich species of Telmatochromis doyou have?

because if it's a smaller one,you don't even have to remove it either.

unless it's bourgeoni or temporalis; these look a fair bit like obscurus in size and coloration, so the species might squabble

but if it's a stripey one (brichardi, vittatus, zambia sp Shell) it could stay without issues.

sidguppy wrote:wich species of Telmatochromis doyou have?

because if it's a smaller one,you don't even have to remove it either.

unless it's bourgeoni or temporalis; these look a fair bit like obscurus in size and coloration, so the species might squabble

but if it's a stripey one (brichardi, vittatus, zambia sp Shell) it could stay without issues.

Its temporalis shell, will also have telmatochromis brichardi soon as well. When they come, I will more than likely move out the temporalis shells and place the t. brichardi in their place and have the shells go to a smaller breedign tank.

my typus are doing great.. they are coming out and feeding regularly, occasionaly see them out during lights on, but like i said, occasionally I see them out as in the tails flailing to get back to hiding lol.

Just an update, they are putting on some size, some of them are pushing 2.5-3" TL.. I saw one the other day that I thought may have a mouth ful, ended up it ate a brineshrimp pellet... LOL.. oh well.. here is a link to some of my pictures (all fish pictures,)
http://www.cich lids.com/browse/user/tango.html

just make sure to remove the space in there.

and a video to my typus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzOXpHZ6vHU

(mod... I couldn't get the little in post video box to show up.. if you can edit it to do that it would be great!)

another update! THey have been leaving my cichlid fry alone (what a bummer!!) so this morning I was clearing out all my walteri (along with fry) and I scared a female typus into spitting out eggs!! I stopped, hoping she'd pick them back up, but my paracyps came along and ate them (thought maybe they'd try to mouthbrood them first, then noticed them spitting them out and then sucking them back up and then they were gone!!) ohwell, I know I have A female... Also, I noticed one of the main barbels on one looks like it was smooshed and doesn't work like the others. It is still extremely active and eats just fine, but I was wondering if this is something that can/will heal , or is that barbel just going to be done for this particular catfish?

-Nate

I picked up a small Tanganyikan catfish from Aquajardin in FairOak this week, which had been there unlabelled for at least a month. Until the manager came along, we all thought it was a "wood catfish" sharing a tank with the likes of Steatocranus tinanti, Ctenopoma acutirostre and Synodontis nigriventris.

But apparently it was a Tanganyikan and after looking at the species profiles for the lake on here I think it is either a Phyllonemus typus or a Lophiobagrus brevispinis... Hopefully not a toxic mucus secreting Lophiobagrus cyclurus!

nvcichlids are you still keeping phyllonemus typus catfish?