Help with New fish

[HaikusCalvus]

hi, im a new member and this is my first post so please take it easy on my newbineessss.

i just bought 2 Altolamprologus calvus Black (Zambian)... i tried feeding flakes but they werent eating... so i bought some live blood worms and tried that... they didnt eat while i was dorping them in( they wont come out of the caves when im close to the tank) ... so i went on with my day and when i got back home in a few hours they worms were gone.... i tried moving the gravel around but couldnt see anything...

So here is my question... did the worm crawl into my gravel or did the fish eat them....

please help

:confused:

[aharris]

If they're the only fish you have, I would guess that they are just shy, and haven't acclimated to their new surroundings yet. If you add some other fish (assuming you have space and add the right ones), they should also calm down and come out more often. I'm guessing they ate the worms while you were gone because they haven't yet recognized that you=food. They shoudl also eat the flake food with no problems if it is a quality flake food. They should eat the flake or a pellet as a staple with the blood worms for treats twice a week or so.

[HaikusCalvus]

thanx aharris ... this helps out extremely

[Vip]

it is true what aharris said about being shy, but i would say your worms are still alive in your gravel, ive had worms live for ages, i find them still moving when im cleaning the gravel. but as aharris said they will soon be eating out of your hand and not one will live to hit the gravel!

[HaikusCalvus]

thanx a lot for the replys... ive decided to feed them frozend brine shrimip and some flakes untill they get used to me... then i will feed them live worms... i'm just not comfortable with blood worms living in the gravel. thanx again

[SGypsyMermaid]

Originally posted by aharris
you=food.

aka "food shape" in aharris lingo.:rofl:

[crazyfishlady]

More like outside tank = food. I thought it was so cute that my fish would come to the front of the tank & beg for food until I saw them doing the same thing one day for my cat. :)

[aharris]

Mine must be geniuses then. They only beg from me, and we know because my husband and I have tried to fool them. They also beg differently for different foods.

[HaikusCalvus]

all other cichlids that ive kept have always begged for food .. its just the altolamprologus calvus that shy away when i feed them...

does anyone have Calvus that dont shy away from the owner...??

[aharris]

I think it has more to do with tank-bred as opposed to wild. Any fish I've ever had that was f1 or better, including my petricola cats (4 f1; 3 f0), don't seem to have much of a problem with people outside their tank. That probably has to do with the fact that they've never been predated upon by large shapes appearing above the water (in the wild that would herons, storks and the like).

[Boilermaker]

Hi Haik, I would like to go back to aharris first post, do you have any other fish with them?
I have always kept them in a community enviroment the Calvus and Compressiceps and they aren't a least bit shy.

[HaikusCalvus]

hi Boilermaker,

i just have one petircola catfish with them.. so i have 2 atlo. caluvs and 1 syno. petircola, ... but i have a small tank... its 10gals, but filled with caves, about 15 good hiding places for them, but i was going to upgrade to a 30 gal with sand in 2 months. and add at least 1 more petricola...

but one of the calvus seems to be getting used to me and doesn't shy away as much... although none will eat while im around..

and i have a newbieee question for aharris ..... what does
(f1 or better) mean...

thanx again

[HaikusCalvus]

aharris, i just figured out what f1 means....

nevermind on my last question

F0 Wild-caught fish. This fish has been hand-caught in its native body of water and imported into the United States.

F1 First-generation captive fish. This fish is the offspring of the wild-caught (F0) parents.


An F2 fish is the offspring of F1 parents, etc.


i got this from armkes.. is it right??

[aharris]

Yep