Have any of you kept Lethrinops?

Have any of you kept Lethrinops? If so, what did you house them with? Did they color up?
I am mightily tempted to focus my big tank on some of the smaller more timid Africans, like Lethrinops and some of the small peaceful Aulonocara, like the Huesari, Korneliae, or Kandeense. But I am a little hesitant to fill my tank with a large group of fish that really need a species tank to thrive. Should I just play it safe and get the more standard Haps and Peacocks?

 

No help, but...
Ooh!
Had to look up all the fish you mentioned. "Beautiful".
Especially liked the Kandeense.
During research looked at quite a few "Beauties", also my LFS breeds some rare types. Big $$'s. Since I am a "Newbie" with them, decided not to push my luck so went with some common/standard Peacocks/Haps. But that's just me.
I do well by them.

Good Luck, on your choices.

 

I haven’t but what beautiful fish they are !

 

I spent some more time researching them, diving through Malawi Guru. (If you haven't checked it out yet Malawi-Guru.de - Malawi-Guru.de has more in depth coverage of Malawi fish than any other ten sites put together - it is a great rabbit hole to tumble down)
Anyways, it sounds pretty strongly like the Lethrinops are best kept to species only tanks All those little peacocks too.
I could maybe do a tank full of all the little guys, but who knows if they would all stay skittish? jmaldo , I think I'm gonna join you on the newbie cichlids. I just don't have the room to experiment.
Oh well, the "newbie' cichlids are wicked pretty anyway.

 

Kept wild caught Lethrinops furcifer (back then one of only two available species) in a 200x60cm footprint, 700 liter tank with rockworks in the back and to one side, on relatively fine open sand. Group was 8 females and 2 males (started out with 12 subadults, had to give away 1 male and lost another one before being able to sex them), other cichlids were Sciaenochromis ahlii and Cyrtocara moorii, other fish Synodontis multipunctatus.

The project was short lived, as after 8 months another breeder offered us some gorgeous F1 Protomelas sp. in exchange. And shortly after that we noticed the Cyrtocara being parasited by the catfish, so we moved them to another tank together for catfish breeding purposes. The Sciaenochromis were also sold and the tank became a temporary home for a colony of Cyphotilapia frontosa.

 

MacZ, what do you think about adding 1 red cap and 1 gold harbor to a mixed male tank? I am still aiming at the more peaceful species - by reputation - copadichromis, placidochromis and some stuartgranti. Oh, and a protomelas steveni taiwan reef. I would really like a korneliae too, but maybe I am chasing an unworkable dream.

I could go the other way and add some jacobfreibergi and leave out the lethrinops. I haven't been too interested in the firefish or OBs, but the breeder really does have some lookers. I could go that route.

I'm not sure which way to go

 

I'm sorry, but I have to pass. You seem to expect more pronounced differences in aggression than there actually is. To me all you named are comparable in their basic aggression levels so it comes down to the individuals you actually get.

Also, sorry to say so, many like the redcap, the gold harbour, and the taiwan reef either just appeared in Europe shortly before I stopped keeping rift lake cichlids or only got imported just after that point.

My advice:
Always keep a second tank just in case you need to move one.

And remember: Often what happens in the tank might look more violent than it actually is.

 

Starting your African community with juveniles & having the various species grow up together makes keeping unlikely combinations very possible.
IMO, In an XL tank like yours, keeping two male Lethrinops is very possible. Both will likely color up if a broad, elevated hardscape is provided.

 

Thanks guys. I'll just have to take the plunge. I do have a hospital tan, ready and waiting. Only a 20 but big enough if I need to pull someone to re-home.
Hopefully, next weekend I will get my first new batch

 

Thanks guys. I'll just have to take the plunge. I do have a hospital tan, ready and waiting. Only a 20 but big enough if I need to pull someone to re-home.
Hopefully, next weekend I will get my first new batch

BigBeardDaHuZi did you get the Lethrinops ? if so which ones and how is it going with them ?

I would a chance to get red caps and I’m wondering if it would work with yellow labs and demasoni.

 

From what I understand, the Red Caps are the boldest of the Lethrinops species, but even then, they are pretty timid. I don't think you could keep one with a mbuna. At least, not happily. I suspect the demasoni would make a lethrinops life living ****, but I am only guessing.
I have one lethrinops right now. A Gold Harbor. He is doing ok. He keeps low and minds his own business.
It is a very mellow tank though. So far there is almost zero aggression in the tank. Even the tank boss is so chill, it's hard to tell he is on top.
The tank is almost all aulonocara, with a few of the peaceful haps - a star sapphire, a copadichromis azureus, and an otopharynx tetrastigma.
I am still hoping to add a red cap, and I would like to add some more copadichromis and placidochromis to the tank, but no predators. We'll see how it goes.

 

From what I understand, the Red Caps are the boldest of the Lethrinops species, but even then, they are pretty timid. I don't think you could keep one with a mbuna. At least, not happily. I suspect the demasoni would make a lethrinops life living ****, but I am only guessing.

Yep, very correct and educated guess.