Removing Lowest Ranking Fish

[blue2fyre]

My mbuna tank finally is fully stocked and there is a current war for the top spot. I'm not too worried about that because it's mostly chasing and nothing else. They will work in out in a week or so. One thing I'm curious about is whether I should remove the lowest ranking mbuna from the tank. I have a young white socolofi and a subdominant male msobo that pretty much hang out by the filter to try and escape notice. Not many fish mess with them and most ignore them altogether. I read something about removing weaker fish to promote a better tank. I know there will always be some fish that is ranked lowest but will they be treated the same as my current ones? If I don't add anything and the current ranking stays as it is, and I remove these 2, will I have another fish hanging out by the filter trying to escape notice?


Also I hear mainganos are pretty aggressive and I have seen it myself. I picked up 2 monster mainganos and they are really mellow and are letting the smaller ones push them around. The same thing happened the last time I added bigger mainganos. Do they get less aggressive as they age? Just curious.

 

[Pittbull]

Give the Maingano's a little bit the bigger ones will crash the happy dance or at least they should, As for the lower hierarchy i wouldn't remove them there will always be the lower ones..

 

[efors]

I wouldn't remove them, too. About the mainganos, there have been 4 of them in my mbuna tank for at least a year now; 2M/2F. They have never been overly aggressive; even one of them is now my tank's #1 boss and he is a less abusive boss than the rusty of my avatar was. Btw, that rusty lost a fight with the maingano and is now the #2 boss; but unbelievably, the maingano treats him fairly well, just chasing him a little bit when eating. Also, the same thing happens between the 2 male mainganos; just some chasing not very often.

 

[blue2fyre]

I think it's just 1 imparticular in my tank. I don't want him to be tank boss because I seriously worry about him becoming hyper dominant. He's about 3" now. The bigger ones are 4" and one is a solid 5". They let this smaller one push them around and I was hoping they would put him in check. I may consider removing him since the others don't seem nearly as mean. I'll give it some more time. The bigger ones have only been in there a few days.

As for removing the lower ranking I won't. They just seem so unhappy lol.

 

[KLGFCG]

Unfortunately, no suggestions on your questions, but I was just wondering what your final stocking is? With pictures, preferably.

 

[blue2fyre]

I have 5 species right now which is a not recommended. I'll move out a species once everything settles down. I just haven't figured out which yet. These aren't my pictures but they are better than anything I can take.
I have
Metriaclima msobo
Male

Female

Mainganos, Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos is the new name

Albino pseudotropheus socolofi (with one male that isn't albino)

Albino

Cynotilapia afra chewere(just a trio)

Pseudotropheus Acei
yellow tail

white tail

I also have a pseudotropheus enlongatus chewere, a yellow lab and a Tropheus duboisi.

All together I have 30 fish. I have 4 on the list right now to be removed though. The tank looks awesome! It's very colorful and active and the parameters stay perfect.