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Q Common misconceptions about Mbunas: Set 'em up an knock 'em down!

I am wishing there is more action in the mbuna section so am posting a thread. Don't have to post if you don't want to.

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

common misconception:
acei are not aggressive-wrong. they can be. i have had acei that hated peacocks. although i have to aggree that they are very mellow for mbuna.

1 - I agree with acei LOL 2-Assorted cichlid tanks are to stay away from. I agree if your new. But there is "gold in them hills" if you KNOW what your looking for. At $3 bucks a pop, I have found some nice fish in the years(feels like your getting back at the LFS LOL ). 3 - Dreaded malawi BLOAT. Never once had Mbuna with bloat. Thats why everybody should use NLS. BTW , I no longer keep any mbuna.

mbunas, aggresive?!? Hum... depends on what you define as aggressive behavior. I find Angels to be much more aggresive than mbunas. I have an 80 gal tank with the following :

1 frontosa ( I know... Lake Tanganiyka )
4 Labidochomis ( 2 med. 2 small )(1m. 3f.)
1 Venustus
1 Red zebra
1 Blue zebra
1 auratus
1 bumble bee
1 blue dolphin
1 Labeo shark ( I know... not a cichlid )

There is some chasing around but no nipping. If things get too aggressive, my Red zebra gets involved and stops it right there and then. My African cichlids tank is one of the most fun tank that we have to watch and it's far from being an aggressive tank.

Anyway, if you want to stop all aggressions, just strip the tank from all decorations, rock and caves. Leave it bare for a couple of days. It's funny to see all those fish gather up together as they are clueless as to what to do now. Worked miracles to stop my South American cichlids from nipping the hell out of each other. Now, they are all friends. I'm not saying that they did not make new territories onces the rocks and all are back, but the aggression is replaced by some less aggressive way of saying : Sorry Bud, you are on MY turf.

My 2 cents

Sponge

lol sponge bob, if you cant play nicely and share then im takeing them away. this method works well with children but who knew it would work with fish lol

SB is the super nanny of the aqua world. That overly aggressive behaviour is "un-asssept-able"

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

my current stock of mbuna
5 red by reds
10 yellow labs
4 damasoni
10 melianochromis cyano habdose
they r perfect together not the meanest of the mbuna but they will kill any new arrival but other then that really no aggression at all the odd chase but hell my neons do worse

Hmm. Wonder what Bayoubuddy would have to say here?

After hearing him recount in the chat room the sometimes hilarious antics of his berserker chipokae, while on the other hand having seen some fairly placid behaviour from Pseudotropheus auratus that was unexpected, I'm wary of going one way or the other. Some species have reputations for being relatively placid - Iodotropheus sprengerae being a classic example - while others are routinely considered to be hardcore criminals and aquarium terrorists (Pseudotropheus elongatus regularly falls into this category).

However, one definite no-no, I've been told, is mixing Labeotropheus fuelleborni and Labeotropheus trewavasae in the same aquarium. Warfare is likely to erupt according to quite a few people if this mistake is made! There are other combinations that are less than happy in outcome, but it's like everything else in the fish game - do the research first.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002