Protomelas sp."spilonotus tanzania" is found in the area southern of the Ruhuhu River to Mbamba Bay Island. They are living there in a rocky environment in the upper water level. Last year I (Thimo) bought a young trio of this species. At that time they were about 8-10 cm. In this moment they have been grown to beautiful fish from which the male is about 13 cm now and the female about 10 cm. In the lake they live together with mbunas in rocky environments. In an aquarium it is also going to be pretty well together as long as you keep them in a large tank with enough space to swim. Then they behave quite tolerant towards all the other inhabitants. The male in my tank however was constantly chased by the male of the Copadichromis borleyi "Kadango" and because of that this male didnīt find any place to rest and he didnīt got any color at all. Because of this I decided to sell the "Kadango" and I hope the male "spilonotus" will color soon. The male pictures shown here were taken while the "kadangoīs" were temporary in another tank. Here he is colored as it's supposed to be. This is a cichlid which can be hold best with multiple females in a large tank with a lot of swimming space and multiple hideouts. It's possible to keep them together with large mbunas but it's necessary there's enough space for them. In my aquarium they eated everything I offered. |