Well the fish are in the tank. For a couple of months already and they are doing fine.

I’m adjusting to a tank without much tech or plants, slowly.. Ofcourse more algea. I’m used to tanks that need frequent trimming of the plants, because they grow so insanely fast from the added fertilizer and CO2. But this is a cichlid tank, and I will have to cope with this different setup.

The first thing you would notice from these shelldwellers is that every one of them has created a territory for itself, claiming a couple of shells as their private domain and pushing the others away when they get too close (bar feeding time ofcourse). The substrate is no longer a smooth terrain, but has been thoroughly redecorated by the fish.

Added to the tank is a Tera outer filter, to increase the total amount of water and make space within this tank. I’m just keeping up with the weekly waterchanges, removes of algae and feeding the fish. After 9 months, the fish should be reaching a breeding age and I’m not expecting much change in the territory till then. It’s not easy to guess their age now, but since i have them for 3 months and they have grown, I’m guessing they are at least  5 months now. I will have to compare to (hopefully) my own fry later, to really know their age.

It’s fun to see the behaviour of these fish, different behaviour to a single Betta or a schooling/shoaling fish for sure.

I’ve decided not to mess with the hardness or ph. Since these fish are bred in captivity and the tap water is already at 8 hardness and around 7 on the pH, changing it with risking spikes and drops would surely not be beneficial to the fish.