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Tropheus Ways
by Fredrik Hagblom
Keepers of Tropheus are often accused of being snobbish.
I believe that it has a lot to do with the fact that the price
of a group of 20-25 fishes, which is to be considered a minimum,
is so high and that one small error can cause a catastrophe.
Tropheus are expensive, fragile, aggressive, and difficult to
feed in the right manner and often not as colourful as many
other African cichlids. People often believe that Tropheus keepers
have an urge to belong to a certain group of people. The group who
go on golf holidays and drive Jaguars. These people are often not
interested in the Jaguar or the golf, to them it’s just things
that you do to show the people around you what kind of a person
you are.
A beach resort, a membership in an exclusive golf club, a
Porsche, a Rolex and two 250 gallon fish-tanks. One full of
wild caught Tropheus ilangi and the other stuffed with breeding
Discus. I’m going to tell you why this is not the truth.
The fact is that I have an old rusty Volvo and live with my
whole family in a small rented apartment. But the apartment is
totally stuffed with wild caught Tropheus and they make me and my
family happier than any car or beach resort.
Here is a little of what I have picked up by closely studying
my group of wild caught Tropheus moorii “Kala island”
It feels good to be the only one with “Kala” in Scandinavia.
I’m the kind of person who enyoj that fact more
than the colours of the Topheus. I am grey, but UNIQUE. I tend
to keep fish as a biological experiment rather than for decoration.
If you want less waterchanges, more colours and better bucks for
your fry you shouldn’t mind my advice.
I think that the most interesting part in keeping Tropheus is
the exact hierarchic order within the group. A group that functions
well becomes one single creature that reacts to its surroundings
collectively. The dominant male moves through the entire
group mildly poking and pushing up against each individual to show
his power. The citizens of his kingdom gives clear signs back to
show that they obey his orders.
The dominant male
This does not stress or upset the group in any way. It rather
makes it stronger under one powerful leader. It also releases
very interesting sexual behaviours.
It is totally clear that not all of the females are attracted to
the leader and his ways. A male nr. 2 will almost always emerge.
He soon becomes the favourite among some of them. It seems as he
is accepted as nr. 2 by the leader and is allowed to spend time
with some of the females although under strict surveillance from
the boss. The dominant male repeatedly comes over to him to
receive a sign of his rank. As if to show the females that are
with him that they are actually flirting with someone of a
lower rank. The nr. 2 male shows the leader that he obeys him by
turning his back towards him shaking his body. This shaking
seems to be a language that, depending on how you angle your
body and point your head, can mean different things. It is used as
a way to communicate between all members of the group.
The power can all of a sudden be overthrown. Recently my “kala”
male nr. 2 rebelled against the leader ant took power of the
tank during a couple of weeks. He was however pushed down to
second again. During this kind of “revolution” the females
get very
confused. They get pale and shy, probably because they loose
track of from what direction the sexual tension is coming. When
all of the tanks inhabitants are clear over the new order among
the top males, they regain their colours and return to their
spawning games.
No. 2. More elegant, a bit milder.
If an unknown individual is added to a well functioning group
of full grown Tropheus it takes no more than a couple of minutes
until he has broken practically all of the groups set rules and
is attacked and almost always killed. Even if the newcomer
stays passive he will not have time to learn all of the laws that
might have taken the group several years to construct. In a few
days he has broken enough rules to have the entire tank against him.
Either he will be so strongly corrected and put in his place
that he gives up, gets sick and dies. Or he will be killed instantly.
I feel that the more clearly you can see the tendencies
mentioned above while studying your group, the better your group is
put together and the more productive it will be.
I should mention that all these behaviours are, at least here
in my tanks, very much more noticeable in a group of wild caught
Tropheus than in a F1 group.
It is possible that many of these patterns of behaviour exist
among several other cichlids but I have never seen anything
comparable among the non Tropheus ones that I have kept.
All of this makes it very hard not to hang out by the tank
during pretty much all free time spent at home. It also makes me
want to start new groups and be even more careful and thoughtful
all the time since the more planning and care you put into your tank
the better the group works and that’s when it becomes really fun
to keep Tropheus.
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