I Love My Mbuna

[lgarvey]

I have just got a camera and have taken to filming my mbuna. I thought i'd post a video here of the female Auratus playing.

[URL="http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0GC5-Uk-24"]http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0GC5-Uk-24[/URL]

I also have a nano marine tank currently cycling with a damsel fish (wish I'd not listened to the LFS guy and cycled with ammonia, but ahhh well). The nano has a couple of cool shrimp in it, but still it's nothing compared to the character and action I see in the mbuna tank.

PS. Why do LFS rarely know what 'um-boo-na' means? They go blank and then say "err, do you mean lake malawi?"

L

 

[darrel69]

Cool vid... you know that auratus can be quite aggressive, right ? I agree, my tank is also full of character and personalities lol..

Uusually, in most fish stores, the customers know more about cycling/fish/ect than the assistants do.

 

[lgarvey]

Cool vid... you know that auratus can be quite aggressive, right ? I agree, my tank is also full of character and personalities lol..

Uusually, in most fish stores, the customers know more about cycling/fish/ect than the assistants do.

Hi,

Yeh, I was wary of getting an auratus initially, but she's actually fine -- perhaps because it' a female! I had to return one fish due to agression, but that was because I had two male psuedotropheus elongatus. I now know that getting 'two of each' is not a wise way to stock an mbuna tank! =)

I also have a psuedotropheus crabro which by all accounts is nasty, but it's extremely timid. Again appears to be another female.

The auratus will tend to be quite agressive towards the male melachromis johanni, which is odd, but I suspect it's due to the similar markings.

I'm totally surprised that LFS aren't more clued up about fishless cycling. Unfortunately I am going to have to return the marine damsel after the tank has cycled, because it will attack anything else I put in there. But it sucks using a live animal just to establish the tank!

L

 

[darrel69]

Well they're there to make money and will try to sell you everything and anything they can lol, even if you dont really need it... they probably do know about fishless cycling, but would rather you cycled with a fish so you buy something off them. Its a good idea to ask people on here advice before buying anything...

 

[kj23502]

I've heard of reports of auratus being able to change themselves to a different sex. Kinda freaky huh!! I don't know if it's true, just wanted to let you know I've heard of it. Males can be a lot meaner, I gues

If you started w/live rock you wouldn't have needed to cycle your marine tank with fish. The rock would've done it for you

 

[lgarvey]

Hi,

Fingers crossed the auratus doesn't start turning black! I think (not entirely sure) she's big enough not to change sex now.

With regards to live rock -- I really dislike worms of any kind, and the thought of the tank harbouring bristleworms and other beasties really turns me off, hence the lack of live rock! Instead I'm doing a weekly 10% water change and running it like a freshwater tank, though obviously I'm holding off on the water changes whilst it's cycling.

I fishless cycled my main mbuna tank and would definitely cycle any marine tank that way in future. That or use ready cured live rock and get a bristleworm exterminating crew such as an orchard dottyback and coral banded shirmp! =)

L

 

[kj23502]

 

[little_mermaid]

Cute fish! Neat tank! And the title of the video made me chuckle!

 

[Rick A]

I've heard of reports of auratus being able to change themselves to a different sex. Kinda freaky huh!! I don't know if it's true, just wanted to let you know I've heard of it. Males can be a lot meaner, I gues

Auratus don't change sex; the male juveniles have female colouration until they reach maturity. This is because mature males are very aggressive to males of their own kind and it gives the young males a better chance at surviving.

The auratus will tend to be quite agressive towards the male melachromis johanni, which is odd, but I suspect it's due to the similar markings.

Correct. They are both different species of Melanachromis - other fish with similar markings may also attract the wrong kind of attention too.

 

[lgarvey]

Hi Rick A,

At what kind of age / size do they start changing colour? I'd say the auratus is about 2inch in size. I really don't fancy a male auratus in the tank! =)

I had a psuedotrophus elongatus that was so agressive that it often pushed every other fish in the tank into one corner. Had to return the lil bugger.

L

 

[Rick A]

The Auratus will probably change - if its going to - at about 2.5" to 3". You know what they say though: 'never judge a book by the cover'. My male Auratus calmed down a lot once he reached maturity and he is a gorgeous brown and black with gold flecking on parts of his body - a really beautiful fish - I've had worse too! He doesn't really bother the others and they certainly don't bother him!

Personally, I would 'suck it and see' for now, male Auratus can be both stunning to look at and become real non-aggressive characters. With many Malawis - even the so-called peaceful types - they are all individual and you won't really know what you've got - character-wise - until they've matured. But, you are also right in that you should never tolerate a 'hyper-dominant' fish as they will stress out all of their tank mates and will eventually try to 'kill em all'...

I also had a powder blue Pseudotropheus that I had to get rid of as he managed to kill four of my large Malawis before I managed to positively ID him as the culprit!