OB zebra problem

blue2fyre

blue2fyre

Blue Fish
Oct 7, 2008
4,440
3
0
42
Wisconsin
Real Name
Ashley
Everything has gone really smoothly in my 55 gallon mbuna tank until a couple weeks ago. I guess all my fish hit maturity and decided to breed. The white top haras and acei have behaved but my male OB zebra has suddenly turned evil. He killed one of his females and has been harassing tankmates left and right. My acei has a chunk missing from his nose and my white top has lost most of his color. My male OB just turned his attention on another female and I feel something has to be done. One way or another he's going to have to be removed so this killing does not continue. If I replaced him with another male OB would that solve my problem? Or is this just a trait of this species?
My other option is to replace all of the OBs with something less aggressive and call it a day. I'm not sure what I would replace him with. I've always loved Metriaclima sp. "Msobo" and blue grass aquatics has some. But I've never ordered fish offline before and shipping is steep.

Suggestions please?
 
Welcome to the world of African cichlids!
Putting a bunch of different Lake Malawi species
all in one 55 gallon aquarium will likely never
work unless you commit to a species only tank.
You will have much better results in a 125 gallon
aquarium and you'll find that mixed Mbuna will behave
in a more peaceful manner. If you are serious about
spawning Malawians, you'll need a minimum of 3-4
tanks per species so that females and fry can be separated,
so fry can be grown out, and so injured fish can have a place
to recover and heal. Good luck!
 
Hey Blue the Msobo's would be a good change the OB are straight out of Compton.. Rusty's would be good as well..
 
I would definitely replace all the OB for something else. I would trust in bluegrassaquatics.
 
Welcome to the world of African cichlids!
Putting a bunch of different Lake Malawi species
all in one 55 gallon aquarium will likely never
work unless you commit to a species only tank.
You will have much better results in a 125 gallon
aquarium and you'll find that mixed Mbuna will behave
in a more peaceful manner. If you are serious about
spawning Malawians, you'll need a minimum of 3-4
tanks per species so that females and fry can be separated,
so fry can be grown out, and so injured fish can have a place
to recover and heal. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I really disagree with most of this. A 125 for 3 species? No, many people have had success with the type of set up I have. I didn't just mix species, I put a lot of research into the set up of this tank and I have done adjustments as needed. I know this will work I just need to find the right combination. My haras and acei are behaving. I see now that I got some bad advice about the OBs (SOBs if you ask me).
I'm not trying to breed them, they are doing all of that on their own. I'm making no effort to save the fry, most likely the synos will get them once she spits.


Hey Blue the Msobo's would be a good change the OB are straight out of Compton.. Rusty's would be good as well..
Click to expand...

Thanks Pitt. I think the msobos would work well. I'm looking for something yellow ish or orange that isn't a yellow lab or red zebra. I looked into salousi briefly but the males seem to be hit or miss. I really don't care for rusties, I just wish more fish had their personality.

I would definitely replace all the OB for something else. I would trust in bluegrassaquatics.
Click to expand...

Vote #2 for OB removal. I was looking to wait till March since it's been so cold around here. But that may be too long to wait. The OB was harassing one of his females this morning.
 
Coolness Blue i hope all works out for you i know you have put a lot of work into this.. Yeah myself i am not a big fan of the Zebra's pretty down right nasty critters..
 
OB Zebras can be viscous, i had to relinquish ours, he was the only fish causing trouble, he would tear the fins of the other fish no mater what the were, even had to put a colbalt blue in the 29 to heal up, and he was twice the size of the OB . Nice looking fish tho.....:goldfish:
 
My male OB doesn't give me any trouble but I definately think he is out ranked in the tank by the maingano and the albino socolofi. Those 2 pretty much split the tank in half with their territory. :)

If you are going to wait anyways or really like the OBs I know I read a few ways to try and chill him out just can't remember what they were exactly! :) If you'd be interested I'd try to find them. I know one was something about keeping the bully in a filter bucket for a period of time to "punish him". But with Mbunas once you knock down the the bully another just takes his place!
 
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