Tropheus moorii - My Experiences
By Robby Lucken
As published in Aqua News March/April 1999
A Publication of the Minnesota Aquarium Society
Aquarticles
My interest in Tropheus moorii started when my good friend and fellow cichlid
enthusiast, Mike Steck showed me an old article out of Tropical Fish Hobbyist titled
"Tropheus the Terrible". I read the article and was amazed at the color forms
and the amount of energy that this fish could generate. I remember having lengthy
discussions with Mike on what it would take to keep this fish. We thought we had
determined what we needed for a successful colony, but when we found the fish at the local
fish store they were at least $28 each!! Neither of us could afford as many fish as we
thought we needed to disperse aggression, which was 8-10 fish, so we just sat around
scheming about how we could get around that aggression and buy just a few at a time. Mike
broke down and spent the most he had ever spent on four fish. He came home with four Tropheus
moorii "Bemba" and put them in a 55 gallon tank with about 80 lb. of Texas
holey rock, thinking the endless maze of holes, caves and tunnels would allow the fewer
fish ample hiding places and a chance of survival. Slowly, all of his "Bemba"
died yet the other fish in the tank were doing fine. We were stumped, was it the
aggression we thought we had taken care of, was it the diet, was it the other fish? We
concluded that, after the last one died, it was the diet, T. moorii are more
finicky than we had thought and some of the food was too high in protein. Unfortunately,
that was the only attempt at keeping Tropheus for several years.
I had often thought of how I could establish a colony of my own. I knew that I had to
obtain at least 10 specimens and feed them exclusively high vegetable, low protein food. I
had done some more reading about these intriguing little fish and felt that I was ready to
make my own attempt. I went to a couple of local fish stores and was again unable to
afford $300-$400 for a colony of ten. I then decided that I'd check into mail ordering
these fish. I was amazed at the prices I could obtain these fish at, less than half of the
retail prices at the aquarium shops near me. The decision was made and I purchased 15
Tropheus moorii "Rutunga" AKA Red Saddle from "Rift Lake
Aquatics" in Florida for $10 each. I paid $200 including shipping and haven't
regretted it once!! I was a bit nervous about their plane ride as this was my first time
mail ordering fish. I was relieved when they all arrived healthy and hungry!! I got the
fish in early March '98 and with in three weeks I had my first female holding!!
The tank I decided to house the fish in is a 55 gallon tank with fluorescent lighting
that is on about 14 hours a day by way of a timer. I feed both fry and adults a store
brand of spirulina flake twice a day and keep algae covered rocks in the tank for them to
graze on. The filtration is an undergravel with powerheads and an Emperor 400 with crushed
coral in the media containers to keep the pH up at 8.5 and the hardness at 400 PPM. The
temperature is kept at 80°F. The water is changed every three to four weeks at a rate of
30% per change. No lake salts were used to modify the water although a dechlorinator was
used in straight tap water. There is enough room in the tank for three separate piles of
baseball to softball sized rocks, the two end piles have been claimed by two of the males.
The alpha male likes the pile of rocks on the side of the tank against the wall and seems
to get most of the females in his end of the tank. The beta male does manage to get
females in his side of tank as well, although not nearly as many. The alpha male shows a
vertical red bar from top to bottom when excited, the beta male shows the "red
saddle" and a corresponding red spot low on his belly as well. The females and
submissive males are generally dark brown and very little of the red color shows. The
first brood was more than likely fathered by the alpha male. Since then I have had about
10 broods averaging 5 per brood. There was a move into a new house that slowed things down
a bit, but they are now settled and back in the mood again. About every month I remove two
females and isolate them in their own ten gallon nursery tanks for approximately two weeks
then I remove the fry and put them with their siblings in a 40 gallon grow out tank. After
about three months they are about 3/4 of an inch in length and are ready to sell, however
most fish stores like them to be at least an inch long, which requires about six months to
achieve.
My experiences with Tropheus haven't been terrible at all, in fact I cannot
wait until I get my next colony. Right now, I have my eye on the T. moorii
"Moliro" variety.
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