| Scientific name:
Altolamprologus calvus "White chaitika" |
| Trade name:
White calvus |
| Natural habitat:
Rocky shores in Lake Tanganyika |
| Food in the lake:
Small crustaceans and insect larvae. Eats small fish too. |
| Food in the
aquarium: A mix of relatively small quality pellets, flakes, krill,
artemia, etc fed sparingly. No mammal meat! |
| Behaviour in my
aquarium: Because of unforeseen circumstances, I'm keeping 3 pairs in my
800L tank for the moment. The males are rather peaceful to other cichlids,
but they do chase each other. When I will have my new 1500L tank ready, most
probably I will only keep 2 pairs in there. |
| Tankmates: Other
quiet and peaceful Tanganyika cichlids. No Tropheus or Petrochromis |
| Maximal size:
Can vary quite a bit depending on water quality and food amount. Grows to
about 12 cm. |
| Aquarium: At
least a tank of >200L with a sufficient amount of rocks and caves. A
sand bottom, pH between 8 - 8.5, temperature about 25°C |
|
A wildcaught male Altolamprologus calvus "white" in my aquarium
|
| Personal notes:
I've started with these remarkable cichlids in 2003
during the visit of Carli Debusk. The Altolamprologus calvus did very
well in my 800L tank, but after some time 3 fish of that group sadly
died and only one of them remained. I resigned with those deaths for
quite a while but bought 3 new calvus in 2004. These fish did very well
compared with the first ones and they became the main attraction in my
Tanganyika tank together with the Cyprichromis jumbo tricolor. Although
no breeding occured I was very happy with these gracious beauties.
A big yawn! Despite this size of mouth, they like small food particles
(according to aqualex)
Photo of the Month - August 2003
A very compressed body. The calvus belongs to the same family as the
Altolamprologus compressiceps.
|
The big calvus looks terrible and died a few weeks
after this photo was taken. The small one still lives in my
Tanganyika tank.
You may also see my report on
breeding in the next
page.
Text and Photos by MCH - Frank Panis
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