Malawi Golden Cichlid

[umpsfar]

I Picked up two of these bad boys for my 60Litre play sand tank.
I've no idea how big they get but ATM they are 3 inches long.
Previously i had them in my bigger tank but they where way too aggressive and ate my two gupies & destroyed the fins on one of my black tetras in the space of a week.
one of them, while in my big tank seemed to have cut off the top part of his gill, it was red for about a month and he/she lost the lovely yellow black white stripes and is now a dull grey/blue colour, is this normal.
I think he/she has become aggressive cause of this (wouldn't you).
anyway as it stands they have the 60 all to themselves.i put a dwarf gourami into their tank as it was being bullied by two pearls and a three spot gourami. but they ate the underside of his fin, so that was a no no.,
the one thats not damaged started diggin places in the sand ,
how does one sex these fish?
and any advise on them , ive searched the fourms but dont see any posts.

Quick update: ive just read a post 5 posts down from this one called " New To Mbuna Can You Id My Fish Please? Calling all experts! "by Glenbo1981.
It seems the yellow and black and white one is a female Auratus, when i bought them they where both this colour but now one turned into a male after a few days???

Ashy said the
"The females are yellow/black and the males are black/blue"

could this be possible?

 

[Cichlid_Crazy]

All males start off the female colours and change later on.

What were you thinking keeping on of most agressive cichlids there is with guppys and tetras?

 

[umpsfar]

in my defence they where bought for me by 3 young students i had staying with me as a thanks.
and i had no idea what they where for a couple of weeks.
Even so i'd probably have picked them myself or something worse.

What would be a good tankmate for them or is a 60Litre alright or too small.

 

[M.R Otter]

malawi golden cichlids when young are the same colour as the adult female and the young males will change their colours when they reach maturity.

How on earth did your guppys and tetras survived for a week with those monsters.......Auratus cichlids are known to be one of the most aggressive african cichlids out there.Did you transffered the guppys and the tetras away from those bad fellas

 

[dthoffsett]

Honestly I think M.auratus is best suited in a species only tank if kept at all, and IMO 75gal would be minimum.

While it was very nice of your students to give them to you, unfortunately in such a small tank I'm willing to bet your male will kill the female before long. And while some have kept them with other mbuna, over time most end up removing them because of aggression problems.

It's unfortunate that they are sold at most LFS with no warning as to what you are getting.

 

[umpsfar]

Honestly I think M.auratus is best suited in a species only tank if kept at all, and IMO 75gal would be minimum.

While it was very nice of your students to give them to you, unfortunately in such a small tank I'm willing to bet your male will kill the female before long. And while some have kept them with other mbuna, over time most end up removing them because of aggression problems.

It's unfortunate that they are sold at most LFS with no warning as to what you are getting.

75 Gallon ??
OMG
OMG omg

excuse the language.

I've currently got 2 tanks a 150 litre (well planted with lots of decor down low(thats how the tetras survived) & ive no idea how guppie survived so long , a week later he had a shreedded tail , next day he was gone, i never found him) ive no plans to get another tank.
i was in the middle of a fishless cycle on the 60litre (2 weeks) when i got them and had to abort that and do a semi fish in cycle.
i thought the male was only chasing her because he was injured and angry(silly me).
i suppose im going to construct three more coconut caves for her and move across a few more plants.
i got the 60 litre for the gupie babies and hoping to get some angel babies, but i dont think they'll be going in there now, he he.

oh and thanks for the info you guys and gals are great.

 

[umpsfar]

Ok a question for ya 's
I've a catfish, yes probably the one that grows into nelly the lock ness monster....
he's currently about 5-6 inches long and i would like to move him temporarly into the 60 litre for a day or 3 for a bit of cleaning(when the stats balance)
would this be possible with the Auratus, would he choke on the playsand, am i being lazy and should clean the tank myself.

why are all the fish afraid of him (bristlenose) why do these catfish get ignored by other fish ? do they have some hidden superpower that i dont know about.

 

[dthoffsett]

Ok a question for ya 's
I've a catfish, yes probably the one that grows into nelly the lock ness monster....
he's currently about 5-6 inches long and i would like to move him temporarly into the 60 litre for a day or 3 for a bit of cleaning(when the stats balance)
would this be possible with the Auratus, would he choke on the playsand, am i being lazy and should clean the tank myself.

why are all the fish afraid of him (bristlenose) why do these catfish get ignored by other fish ? do they have some hidden superpower that i dont know about.

Well, first the coconut caves you'll be adding will be ok temporarily but long term your going to need to upgrade tanks or rehome them, the sooner the better.

I wouldn't move your bristlenose over they are great with mbuna (one of the few catfish that are) but not in a small tank even temporarily. It is difficult to add any new fish to an adequately sized tank with adult mbuna, in a small one it would be a disaster. And no he wouldn't choke on the sand, I doubt the other fish are afraid of him unless he's being aggressive, a bn's only super power is that they uniformly ignore everything around them.

 

[umpsfar]

Well i never use the bath much anyway.
Or i could buy two small plane tickets to lake Malawi.
besides that,

 

[dthoffsett]

Well i never use the bath much anyway.
Or i could buy two small plane tickets to lake Malawi.
besides that,

If you have a decent LFS you could see if they will take them, you probably won't get any credit but at least they'd have a chance of getting a larger home. Or you could list them on craigslist, here, or your local newspaper. Another possiblity would be a local fish club.

 

[umpsfar]

Well the worst has happened, even though she had a few hiding spaces his aggressiveness has killed the little lady, and now ive a 60 litre with one fish and a overstocked 150 .
with
3 angels
4 goramis (meh, spelling)
3 tetra
1 BN cat Fish
8 baby gupies
anyone in dublin fancy a lovely Cichid.

I put the BN cat in and the tank is lovely and clean now., although i think the BN has a full tummy, so i located him back to the main tank , me afraid the cichid might kill him when im not looking.