new behavior red zebra

[belldin]

hello i have a 55 gal "walmart special " 48 long tank running 2 wisper 30-60 gal filter's. stock list as follows red zebra x3 , Kenyi x1 , colbalt blue zebra x2 aultauris x3 , yellow fin acie x2 , white fin acie x1 , blotched maramier cat x1 common pelco x1 , and 1 unknown african looks like a mix betwen a red zebra and a yellow lab has the dark blackish brown collored dorsal fin but an OJ colloered body with bit's of brown near the dorsal fin, all of the frish range in size from 2 1/2 " to 4" . except the pelco it is near 10" now the tank has been vary social and friendly thus far. no death's or anyone Obiously being picked on. the watter spec's are as follows
nitrate 40
nitrite 0
hardness 250
alkalinity 80
PH 8.1
ammo 0
ok the largest of the 3 red zebras just started this yesterday . it will bend it's self almost in an L shape and begin vibrating vary violently , every time it does this there is always another fish near , but it dosent always do this when another fish is near. there dosent seam to be a pattern to why it does this. im farly shure it's not a mateing habbit but i could be mestaken i have a par of aultauris that have been locking into a T pattern and swimming in circles for a few min every once in a wile and from what i can gather surfing the web this T pattern is the mating dance so to say i cant find anything on the violent vibrating thou

[MbunaFishKeeper]

i have 4 red zebras and my tank is all male but the alpha male zebra does this he is also the biggest out of the lot but he doesnt really be violent after doing this i think that it could be the alpha male in your tank?

[belldin]

it is possible but one of the yellow fin acie's is alittle bigger and has always been the alfa of the tank unless the zebra is trying to take over the zebra would just now be big enouf to atempt it

[belldin]

i dont have a clue what my male / female ratio is the only way i know how to tell is venting an i dont whant to do that for fear it will stress the fish out

[kay-bee]

They'll perform this behavior to attract a mates or threaten rivals or intruders to their territories. It may be followed up by a short ranged chase if the intruder doesn't retreat or if the potential mate isn't compliant. This behavior can be initiated by any fish in the tank, not just the most dominant one.

If an acei is currently the apparent alpha fish in the tank, odds are one of your metriaclima or melanochromis species will end up being the dominant fish in the tank (though it's entirely likely, when keeping several groups of mbuna, that in addition to the overall alpha fish in the tank they're will be a dominant member within each species as well).

You have several species in your tank which, when they mature, venting won't be necessary to determine gender, there will be subtle or obvious indicators (i.e. color dimorphism, fin tip shape, behavior, etc).

[belldin]

ok thx ya i got all of the fish at 2 " or less most are near 3'' now and a few are close to 4" they should be geting mature and geting ready to start mateing soon so i have been keeping a close eye on them the last 2 month's ya the 2 yellow fin acie's are the largest at 4'' and followed by the larger of 3 red zebra's at around 3 1/2 ''. based on my stocking list am i over stocked for my 55 gal when they hit full maturity or am i good ? i know that mbuna need to be just a bit on the over stocked side to keep any one fish from being singled out and picked on , should i add an ariation system ? to increace O@ lvl's i have been told that higher O2 lvl's increace heath and promote faster growth is there any truth to this ? from what i have read. my 2 HOB 30-60 gal filter's should be creating enouf agitation to support anything that can live in the tank based on it's size

[Weezer]

Our zebras and yellows do the dancing thing, reasons could be Territorial or for mating as posted, with ours it seems like we see eggs or fish holding when that happends......:)

[belldin]

NEW UPDATE this is 3rd day of vibrating behavior and i notised someone new in the large red's clamed cave, my Unknown was in the cave and big red vas not chasing it out infact he was chaseing everyone else away, upon closer inspection during feeding time when they all come out to play in good viewing area i noticed that mis unknown now nicknamed rock by my wife is holding egg's vary swolen neck and lower mouth she is kinda small about 2 1/2"- 2 3/4 " long and cant shut her mouth anymore , i can see them in there from the size of them and the apox mouth size i would guess around 8 -10 egg's in all , anyone have any sugestions as to what i can do to save any fry the come from them ? i have a not in use atm 1gal betta tank i could set up shoud i seporate her with egg and let her give care or weight tell she releases them and scoope them out with a net ? the latter will be hard i have no plant's in the tank real or fake but i do have real marble that i have broken up with a hammer and used to make a vary rocky cave abundant type inviorment
im gona try and get some pic's of the new mother to be so i can get her ID have no clue what kind of fish she is. she is a more tan colored orange than my red zebra's and has a brownish black tiped dorsl fin like a yellow lab but not as dark the same colloring's on her annal fin with a vary light brown to tan lateral stripe down her side in the patern of most pecock's i have seen

[kay-bee]

Can you post a pic of the mouthbrooder?

If she's apparently the only fish of her kind in the tank then she's mouthbrooding hybrids, in which case it might not be worth the effort of trying to rear the fry. I recommend just letting her release them in the main tank and maybe a couple might survive to maturity on their own (the other alternative is to rear them, but then what is the plan for at least 8-10 hybrids?).

If you are interested in raising future (and hopefully non-hybrid) fry, try to obtain another tank (10g-29g) for 'grow out' purposes, a 1gal betta tank won't do due to the quantity of fry, and water quality issues, and, believe it or not, potential aggression (I've seen fry peck at each other while occupying the same tiny crevice a few days after they've been released).

These fish are extremely prolific and the females are capable of producing fry at bi-monthly intervals (give or take); there will come a point where you may have simultaneous mouthbrooding females at any given time (and the brood sizes increase from 8-10 to 3x-4x that quantity as the mothers mature).

[belldin]

ok thx for the tip's , ill keep them in mind ill look for a 20 gal for fry rearing purposes , as for the Hybrid i wont keep them so to say but my 2 year old son if fasinated by my tank's and mostly the african's because of the size and varity of color i was thinking of seting up a tank or 2 in his room and some how child proofing the lid's and keeping my Odball not sure what to do with fis and any fry that survive but arn ment for my tank