How to tame an electric yello male?

[scholar]

I had 2 females and one male in a 135G tank with total of 17 mild mbunas.

The male had sex with one and would not leave the female. I had to trade him and get smaller male. Now the new male is big enough to do the same.

Will getting a third female help the situation? or That's the way the male yellow are! :(

Thanks,

[scholar]

Bump! :(

[JSchmidt]

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. When you say "The male had sex with one and would not leave the female," do you mean he wouldn't leave her alone (i.e., he hounded her)? If so, then your describing typical african cichlid behavior. Adding more females would help. 3 or 4 females per male is a good ratio.


Jim

[scholar]

It is more than harrasment. He id damaging her fins badly and she would die if I do not put her into the nursery.

What I want to know is what are the likelyhood of him just dropping a nutch to harrasment from damaging, if I add more females in a 135G tank? Or the males are just this way?

Has anyone successfully kept 4+ inch male with three or four females in a 100+ gallon tank?

Thanks,

[JSchmidt]

I've got several 4"+ males with a harem of females in a 75, and they do OK.

What you're describing - whether you call it harrassing or damaging or whatever - is pretty common for mbuna, especially captive mbuna. One reason that many of us keep multiple females per every male to prevent what you're seeing: the male continually hits on the same female 'til she gets ragged and/or dead. With more females, he spreads his attention a bit...

There is no guarantee with mbuna that they won't key on one single fish and pester it to death (literally), but with multiple females you greatly reduce the risk of that.

Good luck,
Jim

[jimbo]

This is just a theory!

Do you have a "hyper-dominant" mbuna in your tank...or would that be the Yellow Lab?
If so, that could be reason of his behavior. In my tank, he is the number 6 in rank and I have never seen him being that "aggressive" (he used to have three females, he has two now)
The hyper-dominant in my tank is M.Johannii and he is the only one who can be pretty ”aggressive” sometimes.

Jimmy

[scholar]

Well, it might be too late for him. He probably will not mate with the bigger female and justy go after this female. I put him on the block for sale. I will make sure that the next male will have three females.

I may add a female Kenyii as my top dog. :)

Thanks,

[nattybrack]

I have a female kenyi, and she is def. the top dog in the tank. Also, have a male and 2 female yellow's in w/ her as well. The yellow's are a lot (1.5") smaller, so the kenyi has no problem w/them. The Kenyi lets everyone cruise around, occassionally will ambush a passerby, and generally chases a few of them when she feels like it, but hasn't really done any damage/killing. I had a male kenyi who was relentless, he went back to the store, besides being overly aggressive for my tank his natural coloring looked sickly (IMO). Best of luck w/it.