Back to Africans, again.

[gilpi]

So, against my better judgment I'm starting a community of mbuna fish, third time around. There is something that keeps me going back to them, I love the overstocking (not too heavy) to keep aggression down idea, their colors, how active they are but as soon as it becomes a war zone, I get disappointed with the whole thing. My first time around was successful from the beginning, had around 15 mbuna in a 55 for years! Not a single death but eventually had to dismantle the tank and gave the fish away. Second time around wasn't as smooth, started out with around the same amount but the pecking became so intense that I lost most of them due to their aggressive behavior.
My question is, keeping the peace, do you guys remove the most aggressive fish and does that even help? I know removing the bully "might" bring out another? In other words, how do you keep the peace in a mbuna tank providing you're doing it all "right"?

 

[Colin_T]

I refuse to keep them because of their aggressive nature.

If you remove the dominant male, another one simply takes its place. Eventually you run out of fish and have a male and group of females.

 

[gilpi]

I refuse to keep them because of their aggressive nature.

If you remove the dominant male, another one simply takes its place. Eventually you run out of fish and have a male and group of females.

I totally get what you mean, been there, done that. It can be costly and a letdown of an experiment, but I love cichlids and there is always that one time when it does work. I have to find that happy medium between peace and war in the tank. I have read where certain breeds are not as aggressive... yellow labs, Acei, rusty? Would love to hear from some owners.

 

[GaryE]

I had yellow labs and rustys together for years, with only a little chasing. I never found another mbuna species that I enjoyed watching - just those two. All the (many) other species I kept behaved like they were leaving a really bad bar at closing time, 24/7.

 

[WelshBoa]

I've had mbuna for just over a year now. Did a lot of reading and almost frightened myself out of getting because of the aggression.

I got all juveniles but can honestly say don't get any prolonged aggression at all and lots of different species in there.

I do have quite a lot of rockwork in there though which can quickly remove line of sight which I think must help.

 

[gilpi]

I had yellow labs and rustys together for years, with only a little chasing. I never found another mbuna species that I enjoyed watching - just those two. All the (many) other species I kept behaved like they were leaving a really bad bar at closing time, 24/7.

The bar comment is funny! I guess eventually you got rid of the ones coming out of the bar?

 

[gilpi]

I've had mbuna for just over a year now. Did a lot of reading and almost frightened myself out of getting because of the aggression.

I got all juveniles but can honestly say don't get any prolonged aggression at all and lots of different species in there.

I do have quite a lot of rockwork in there though which can quickly remove line of sight which I think must help.

I'm not new at this but skeptical at this point. Overcrowding them is the best way to keep them but not sure is the best for their health? But I could be totally wrong. I know with overstocking come lots of water changes and lots of filtering, I'm used to that with most tanks. How many altogether do you have in what size tank?

 

[jams]

Well, no experience with Mbuna but I do keep Africans - Peacocks and Haps. I tried to remove the Alpha male a few times (timeout), but as mentioned the next in line just takes over. What to do?
I put everyone back together, they have settled in. Now they take turns becoming the Alpha. Chasing happens daily, so far no losses, no overly stressed fish, fingers-crossed.

Good Luck!

 

[bigroof]

I have had an mbuna tank for about 3 years now. The simple rule is you will lose fish its just simple as that for me any way. You can some what just try and control it. Like you've mentioned over crowding can be one of them. Another one is having like 3 females to every male. In my Mbuna tank i just have lots of rocks with little caves. I do a scape change every 2 to 3 weeks. Just taking all the rocks out and putting them back on top of each other. The caves form it self. This way they dont get territorial, and if they do it changes every 2 weeks. To be honest doing all these things and i still lose one every other month or so from just pure aggression. If you are willing to look past it to me theres no other fish like it.

 

[gilpi]

I have had an mbuna tank for about 3 years now. The simple rule is you will lose fish its just simple as that for me any way. You can some what just try and control it. Like you've mentioned over crowding can be one of them. Another one is having like 3 females to every male. In my Mbuna tank i just have lots of rocks with little caves. I do a scape change every 2 to 3 weeks. Just taking all the rocks out and putting them back on top of each other. The caves form it self. This way they dont get territorial, and if they do it changes every 2 weeks. To be honest doing all these things and i still lose one every other month or so from just pure aggression. If you are willing to look past it to me theres no other fish like it.

I feel pretty much as you about these fish. What happened to me in the past, the more I lost over months or years, the less the population and the more the agression, what size tank do you have and how many fish?

 

[bigroof]

I feel pretty much as you about these fish. What happened to me in the past, the more I lost over months or years, the less the population and the more the agression, what size tank do you have and how many fish?

I have 240 litre tank and when i started i had 25 mbuna juvaniles with 2 synodantis catfish. The problem is with other aggressive fish is that once they fight and sort out the pecking order they tend to get along most of the time. With mbunas its always a battle. They are so hardy and fierce that they just dont give up the fight. For instance i cant count the times i had my tank boss change until about 6 months ago when my cobalt zebra established him self as the tank boss.