Neolamprologus helianthus in my 240G Lake Tanganyika setup.

Neolamprologus helianthus are a brichardi type lamprologine, and they display the typical behaviors of this complex of fish. This includes the forming of large colonies in which juvenile fish help the adults in protecting younger fry. These colonies can be lots of fun to watch, but they take up plenty of room in a tank, and all other fish will be chased out of the territory. If the tank isn't large enough for the other fish to stay out of the colony's way, they are usually doomed. Years ago I kept a prolifically breeding colony of N. brichardi 'daffodil' who shared a tank of about 50G with a group of mbuna. That went fairly well, which gave me confidence that the. N. helianthus should be fine in this 240G setup, although they are rumored to be even a little more nasty than other brichardi type cichlids.

I got five N. helianthus at the OCA Winter Auction 2007. They came from Eric Bodrock of Alloddball Aquatics in Pittsburgh. I lost one quickly, but at the time of writing this two years later I still have the other four. They have grown to a nice size, and are fun to watch, but have made no obvious attempts of breeding yet. They mostly hang out in the Java fern that's growing on the rock background of the tank, but are not shy or secretive. I have also heard that N. helianthus are a shell dweller to the extend that they have been observed in a tank environment to choose nothing but a shell to spawn in and not spawning unless shells were available. So far my N. Helianthus have shown no interest in the shells I provide for my L. brevis.

Pictures from 2008 and 2009.