Yellow Leleupi, the Plaid Julie, and the Masked Julie are very much like Brichardi in behavior and requirements. Of course there are other cichlids in Lake Tanganyika that are quite different. Click here to read about Frontosa which is a mouth brooding cichlid from Lake Tanganyika that has behaviors and requirements that are very different from those mentioned for the fish on this page. 

Comments
This Brichardi lived in a 15-gallon aquarium that was was positioned with the end of the aquarium with the small piece of glass facing out. This arrangement is good for many fish because they can swim back to the far end of the aquarium away from the big people-faces looking at them. The fish feel more secure and spawn more. If the aquarium had been turned the other way, they would have been much more exposed. Most experienced fish keepers and breeders know all about this.

During the time the Brichardi, shown above, and it's mate lived in our facility, we watched them raise many spawns of their fry. But we never knew which Brichardi was the male and which was the female. They were pretty much the same size, same coloration, and both had very long beautiful fins.

We were curious and watched them closely for several years, but they always spawned up inside a cave under a big pile of rocks. We couldn't see which one laid the eggs, and we never saw a physical difference in the appearance of the fish.

Finally we decided it was their secret, and it shouldn't really shouldn't matter to us. At the time this photo was taken, they had fry from several spawns around and under the rocks in the picture. We loved this pair of fish very much. They were beautiful without being brightly colored, and they were very good parents.

Click here to read some very interesting comments about breeding Julidochromis by Professor George W. Barlow.

Appropriate Home
An Aquarium with an External Filter with a BIO-Wheel, a maximum of 1/4" gravel, and an Aquarium Heater adjusted to between 78 and 82 degrees F. These fish will appreciate a pile of safe rocks, and they will usually set up house keep among the rocks. Click here for more about warm water aquariums.

Recommended Diet
Floating flake food and freeze dried blood worms, which are actually mosquito larvae. Both of these foods are available in most stores that sell pet fish. You can feed these fish a few live Black Worms. The ideal amount seems to be two or three Black Worms every other day for each fish. Be sure the worms are very clean and in good condition. Never feed questionable worms. Do not feed worms to Mbunas, Haplochromis, Tropheus, or Frontosa. Click here for more about Black Worms.

Compatibility
These species, and many closely related species, will do better if kept in a group with 6 or 8 of the same species. I mean get at least 6 or 8 Brichardi. They will eventually need an aquarium with at least 25 gallons of water; 30 is better, or even bigger. It is beneficial to have several groups in the same aquarium. In a 60 gallon aquarium you could keep 24 of these fish; say 6 or 8 fish of 3 or 4 different species. You will find that they'll pair off as they reach 2".

Unfortunately, they will chase, hurt, and sometimes kill some of the fish that bother the pairs in their territories. Try to spot the fish that are being chased around all the time and remove them. Sometimes we have kept a small Synodontis Catfish such as an Upside Down Catfish or two in the same aquarium, but catfish will often eat the small cichlid fry. Click here to read more about several other groups of compatible fish.