Melanochromis Auratus Mbuna

[Miller1]

Hi guys,

I am just after a bit of info. I have recently purchased two new female Melanochromis Auratus mbuna to maybe breed with my already established male, but the two females seem to be fighting alot. Is this normal or should i be concerned, any advice is welcome as always.

 

[Scott MacAdam]

Ive kept them before and although I wasn't sure of the sex of them they seemed to be really aggressive. I found the best thing to do is to put things in the tank that break up the lines of sight. Basically, one fish is going to establish itself as more dominant and when it does it will be less that they are fighting and more that one is chasing the other around from time to time. Giving the less dominant fish things to hide behind will be necessary to keep the stress levels down. Basically, if the dominant fish can see the other it will continue to pick on it.

It's recommended that African cichlids are kept in larger groups because of this and then no single fish will be picked on too much but this all comes down to your tank size.

How big is your tank now? What are the tank mates?

 

[Miller1]

Thanks.
I have a juwel 180 rio with sand and ocean rock. There are plenty os hiding places but I am still in the process os stocking it a t the moment. I have got 14 cichlids in total mainly mbuna with a few peacocks and i know some people sujest not to but i have a couple of Tanjanekans in there aswell. I do good regular water changes and checks and all the fish seem very happy apart from the two females fighting. The other thing is all the fish are still juvenile. Again all advice is welcome as i am still relativly new to keeping fish.