Anyone ever try these in a community cichlid tank.. I have read they are very aggressive and do not do well with other fish,even though they are available at most lfs. Any thoughts.
Melanochromis auratus
- Thread starter MiramichiMob
- Start date
If you mean a mbuna tank that is one thing and they can do well. Other than that there is not really any chance.
I have always had Auratus. I love them. They have really spunky personalities, and in my experience, they only harass themselves, and in that context, only the males harass the females. But in most cases, they are chasing each other playing around, it never gets vicious. The only thing that people who have never kept auratus before might not like about them, is that the males are not very attractive, and they get worse as they age. That being said, they have great personalities, and are fun to breed as well.
I have one in my mixed malawi/tang tank. The only thing he is aggressive at is digging! Other than that he has the odd tussle with my Johanni but nothing drastic
Edit - Mine is a male, I wanted a female but I got it from a lfs where they were all female colouration in the tank, got him home and within 2 hours, boom, male colours came out
Edit - Mine is a male, I wanted a female but I got it from a lfs where they were all female colouration in the tank, got him home and within 2 hours, boom, male colours came out
I had one for awhile because when I first started the LFS mixed the Auratus with the Kribs by mistake, and being a noob at the time, I was none the wiser.
They are very mean and will pick on fish much larger than themselves.
They really like digging in sand too.
With that said, it was one of the prettiest fish I have ever had. When the neon orange comes out on its fins it is quite something.
They are very mean and will pick on fish much larger than themselves.
They really like digging in sand too.
With that said, it was one of the prettiest fish I have ever had. When the neon orange comes out on its fins it is quite something.
not at all suitable for a 'standard' tropical community tank. they will shred anything that is not up to the aggression.
best bet for auratus would be a truly large tank and keep a male with his harem, or you can try, as has been said, one male in a mixed rift lake all male set-up.
personally, I don't think they are worth the trouble. they can be true tank killers, and are not particularly attractive as adult fish, in fact the opposite.
best bet for auratus would be a truly large tank and keep a male with his harem, or you can try, as has been said, one male in a mixed rift lake all male set-up.
personally, I don't think they are worth the trouble. they can be true tank killers, and are not particularly attractive as adult fish, in fact the opposite.