Just A Random Thought

[Maximus]

Hey guys,

I had a thought this morning about multiple males in a tank.

I was thinking, that If there were no females of x fish but, instead of just the one male,
having 5 males to spread the agression of the most dominant.

Would this ever work?

I'm not planning on doing this, so dont worry, just wanted to start some kind of discussion


What are your opinions on this? Lets try and get something going here people B)



Cheers,

Maximus

 

[Ferris]

For years now - my Mbuna tanks have been all male. I take a single male from lots of different species and combine them into an all male Mbuna community. It takes some practice and there's an element of trial and error and indeed risk but it's certainly possible.

All males from the same species is asking for trouble though - they will establish a hierarchy but during this process you would probably lose some fish and all but the dominant male would display submissive colouration, making for a rather dull looking tank.

 

[dthoffsett]

I agree with Ferris, all males of a single species is asking for trouble, single males of multiple species is becoming more popular among experienced hobbyists. Here's a great article on setting up a successful all male tank.

http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/all-male_malawi.php

 

[Maximus]

Wow, thats a good read

I agree with only one male, but I thought of this because its almost impossable to buy 5 juvi
fish, and be able sex them

I was just wondering if I was able to buy 5 of x fish, and keep them to find out male/female ratios.
I suppose thats what you have to do!

Oh, while we here, how do you guys catch the extra/unwanted males in a tank full of rocks?



Cheers,

Maximus

 

[jayjay]

Take out the rocks

 

[Maximus]

Really?

Any other methods?



Maximus

 

[Ferris]

Nope - you can either waste an hour trying to catch them amongst the rocks or dismantle the tank to start with and catch them easily. Belive me it's quicker to go with plan B.

 

[Maximus]

Thats crap lol

I read an acticle on the CF about making a bottleneck kind of trap out of a empty 2 litre bottle.

It sounds easy enough, but you have no choice over what fish you catch!

Anyone ever tried it?



Maximus

 

[jayjay]

Well if you go with the trap you will have to wait until you catch the right fish, depending on the number of fish in the tank you could be there days. You could always try multiple traps to speed up the process I suppose.

 

[Maximus]

Yea, I know what you mean

I didn't think about using multiple traps, might have to remember that.

Oh, and theres always the old "hold net under water while feeding and strike" method



Maximus

 

[dthoffsett]

Yea, I know what you mean

I didn't think about using multiple traps, might have to remember that.

Oh, and theres always the old "hold net under water while feeding and strike" method



Maximus

Have you ever tried that with cichlids? It's never worked for me, the only way I've managed to catch them is to take out all the rocks, then drain most of the tank, even then they're hard to catch.

 

[Maximus]

Yea, I know what you mean

I didn't think about using multiple traps, might have to remember that.

Oh, and theres always the old "hold net under water while feeding and strike" method



Maximus

Have you ever tried that with cichlids? It's never worked for me, the only way I've managed to catch them is to take out all the rocks, then drain most of the tank, even then they're hard to catch.

Haha, no I haven't, not yet at least *fingers crossed*



Maximus