I have a 40 gallon tank with plenty of wood / hidey holes for the fish to hang out in. I have a male M. johanii, and figured I'd get him some company, so I got a female yesterday for him to hang out with. I also added a chinese algae eater, and a rainbow shark. The algae eater appears to be doing fine. The female cichlid however has been in a corner of the tank, near the top, swimming almost vertically, just sort of hanging around. If disturbed she swims away, at a normal keel. But she returns back to that corner and resumes the head down vertical hovering. The rainbow shark appears to be doing similar, but he's in a hidey hole, and resting on the inside of the structure he's making his home, so I'm not too worried about that. I tried googling but I see a lot of conflicting answers. Can anyone help?
M. johanii cichlid swimming vertically in corner of tank?
- Thread starter Accipiter
- Start date
She's hiding from something that's stressing her out. That's a pretty classic position to adopt when a mbuna is being beat up on/excessively chased.
I suspect the male johanni is the culprit. In mixed gender groups they need to be kept in a ratio of 1 male to 3 or so females. Otherwise the male goes mental trying to dominate and mate with the sole female. having a few more spreads him out.
If she isn't of breeding size then its just territorial aggression by the male.
What I would suggest is get rid of the Chinese Algae Eater and Shark - mbuna should be kept with mbuna only (bar certain 'accepted' mixes such as synodontis catfish, the occasional pleco, and the like) and replace with 2 or 3 more female johanni.
Is this a 40 Gallon 'Long'/Breeder type tank ? If so I would then add 1 male Labidochromis Caeruleus and 2 or 3 Females of that species, and say 3 or 4 Synodontis Petricola, and call it stocked.
If you keep the current mix the male will likely ultimately kill the female johanni and as long as you have non-mbuna species in the tank with mbuna you'll have bad compatability issues.
I suspect the male johanni is the culprit. In mixed gender groups they need to be kept in a ratio of 1 male to 3 or so females. Otherwise the male goes mental trying to dominate and mate with the sole female. having a few more spreads him out.
If she isn't of breeding size then its just territorial aggression by the male.
What I would suggest is get rid of the Chinese Algae Eater and Shark - mbuna should be kept with mbuna only (bar certain 'accepted' mixes such as synodontis catfish, the occasional pleco, and the like) and replace with 2 or 3 more female johanni.
Is this a 40 Gallon 'Long'/Breeder type tank ? If so I would then add 1 male Labidochromis Caeruleus and 2 or 3 Females of that species, and say 3 or 4 Synodontis Petricola, and call it stocked.
If you keep the current mix the male will likely ultimately kill the female johanni and as long as you have non-mbuna species in the tank with mbuna you'll have bad compatability issues.
If tank water quality is good and he looks healthy otherwise its just a territory issue try moving things around.
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She is just stressed from being chased by the male. Get a few more females for the tank to spread out the attention from the male. If you don't, she could end up dead as the only target for his "affections". Male cichlids in general are like drunk and abusive boyfriends/husbands, they'll beat up a girl until they get what they want.
