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Pseudotropheus Livingstonii (Malawi Shell Dwellers)


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#1 LexAgate

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Posted 05 October 2016 - 08:18 PM

After a great time with my German quality Ngara flametails I have decided I have bigger fish to fry!

I have just received 12 Pseudotropheus Livingstonii also known as Malawi shell dwellers!

Personally I had never heard of them... they are the most beautiful fish I have ever seen truly a sight to behold and they aren't even fully coloured!

For shells I have cut out the bottom of some conch shells to make lots of room for the fish themselves but it looks like they will only fit the smaller females...

I will be filling this post with plenty of pictures!!!

Here are a few, they are recently added and a little shy right now! 9e1e92d1b51f8a919545d7418f25515c.jpg
1f27da272bc5c61aa422381cb665483e.jpg2c0a3e53bb705b71ca7ebcceb1b3dfd3.jpg


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#2 Mattia

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Posted 05 October 2016 - 08:48 PM

Hi lex! Are these actually your photos? Very cool that you are starting a new colony and try to breed more!

#3 LexAgate

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Posted 05 October 2016 - 09:12 PM

These are some of my photos, many more to come Mattia!

Yes I have got a fair mix of both sexes and hopefully I can produce some fry! I understand that 20 is a very large yield, so hopefully they get into it soon enough!!!


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#4 Peckoltia

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Posted 06 October 2016 - 08:51 AM

Nice fish these, good luck with breeding them. 

 

Good to know their are some potential breeders in Perth.



#5 LexAgate

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Posted 06 October 2016 - 12:00 PM

b7ad6d59b92d817c80c1191446caa55d.jpg873b5f8b634bd8af3ec0910c6d9490f2.jpga2ff36a8c8527e3afe71b1c93b28d452.jpg


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#6 Mattia

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Posted 06 October 2016 - 03:23 PM

Second picture on your last post is a Labidochromis Perlmutt buddy.
Are you sure you got them from the same batch?
Post some more pics :)

#7 LexAgate

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Posted 06 October 2016 - 04:17 PM

Many people have said that about some of them! I thought so as well but then they get really yellow then really blue then lose their stripes I can barely know which one is which...


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#8 Mattia

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Posted 06 October 2016 - 05:26 PM

They might have hybridized with something maybe?
Where did you get them from?

#9 LexAgate

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Posted 06 October 2016 - 05:44 PM

I'm pretty sure they aren't hybrids, but then again I'm not an expert.. here have a look for yourself...

0fb6dea957a9c3935503f7764bedbe62.jpg6a78907c9970af6ec9d52a4cf72b9384.jpg6a6981c3c84312079ad263a669e471cc.jpgb5e454e461fda5cff3b6dd1c0f3491e2.jpg

And here is the dominant male

af2b23037c3044d33c41b5825d0c3372.jpgd47ae5d7e45ad94ec655002ca2db82fe.jpg


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#10 Morley Aquariums

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Posted 07 October 2016 - 09:47 AM

These fish are have been kept as a single colony by a pcs member, she brought them over from Aquatic dreams as a special order so have certainly been bought & sold in good faith. Mixups are always possible & Id can be hard when in & out of the shop in a high state of stress. I will have a friend of mine who keep both look into it & let you know Lex.



#11 Stormfyre

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Posted 07 October 2016 - 11:35 AM

Nice one Paul. I did recommend these to Lex when I saw them for sale. Hopefully it all turns out well.



#12 Delapool

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Posted 08 October 2016 - 07:16 AM

Would love to do a shell dweller tank - keen to see how it all goes with keeping them. I was wondering myself in setting up what sort of shells can be used?

#13 Fox

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Posted 08 October 2016 - 07:27 PM

Have a look through some of my old posts, I use to have a stunning colony a couple years ago.

#14 LexAgate

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Posted 10 October 2016 - 03:13 PM

Well I think I have my new favourite picture! ebb1f26d18f66fb24ea212cb55b0710a.jpg


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#15 LexAgate

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Posted 12 October 2016 - 08:59 AM

So personally I have spoken with someone who is quite a pro in my eyes he said this "Pseudotropheus livingstonii are not shell dwellers and can grow to more than 15cm. Metriaclima lanisticola are shell dwellers and have often been imported under the name Ps. livingstonii." I then sent this man some pictures and he could confirm my fish are in fact M. lanisticola, because they have a blue and yellow striped caudal fin. So a bit of confusion now when I chuck other things into the mix here. But from what he has seen he said that my small male is not a perlmut. So honestly I don't even know what going on... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited by LexAgate, 12 October 2016 - 08:59 AM.


#16 Mattia

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Posted 12 October 2016 - 09:16 AM

They're not lanisticola, sorry. If I can find it, will post up a pic of wild ones I photographed last malawi trip... but I agree about what he said about lanisticola being shell dwellers (only when they are babies, they leave the shells once they grow up ;) )

If you look at the mouth of your young male, (or even the one in your favorite picture..) it is quite pointed and has all the characteristic of a perlmutt (or something that should be a perlmutt...)

Your dominant male is pretty good looking though, I would keep him for sure! :)

#17 LexAgate

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Posted 12 October 2016 - 12:36 PM

Now I'm really confused...

Well my fish seem to live in the shells I have provided and have spat their eggs pre maturely into shells twice already... so whatever they are they like shells....


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#18 Fox

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Posted 23 October 2016 - 09:21 PM

The ones I kept bred and protected shells all the time, females are the ones that stayed in the shells 80% of the time. Males hardly ever.
Adam from Midland Pet ended up getting my colony, not sure what happened to them.
I'll try to dig up some pics and post them here.
I've kept perlmut as well and at the same time as the livingstonii. They are very different from each other and are very easy to distinguish from each other.

#19 Buccal

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Posted 24 October 2016 - 06:57 AM

Oliver from Aqoutix some time ago gave me 4 individuals that were indeed true.
Pics above, look to me as there's been a colony of perlmut and P.liv living together in a breeders tank, and possibly hybridised or cross multiple species milt over eggs at fertilisation time.

P.liv have the slang name of the Malawi shell dweller,, they do not need or havnt adapted to using empty shells in the reproduction process,,, but given a tank with correct size shells, and giving that the males are ridiculously agressively harsh on its own kind,, the small size females in comparison to the male, will take common refuge in the shell, and like most malawis, they'll look for a sheltered area to spit fry also, so the shell becomes a shelter for the fry.
I think there are instances naturally in wild where a shells happened to be correct size and happens occasionally. (Adaptation at play ?)

I bred hundreds of these, managed to sell 20, certainly were hard to sell at that time, unfortunately my last male and female the other day, the female died, as the male killed off their last chance for existence in my system.

These fish are best kept with another species of fish that can't hybridise, I kept mine with flamebacks,,,,, It helps the P.liv to unite together as a colony in the form of competition against the flame backs.
This technique is called dithering.

Edited by Buccal, 24 October 2016 - 07:01 AM.


#20 Fox

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Posted 24 October 2016 - 08:52 AM

This is the only pic I could find, Maybe more later.
10632604_10152441095538565_5596012069518

 

 

I also bred many of them only to sell a couple. Unfortunately they are one of the species that not everyone wants.


This is the colony I scored.
http://www.perthcich...s +livingstonii






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