Returning my Kenyi; gonna try something else.

O

ozgood

AC Members
Jul 11, 2007
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Northern Virginia
I currently have the following in my 75 gallon Mbuna tank:

4 - Labidochromis caeruleus - Electric Yellow (unknown male/female)
5 - Psuedotropheus sp. Acei (1 male, 4 female)
5 - Pseudotropheus lombardoi (3 male, 2 female)

The idea was to get 1 male, 4 female of each of the three types. One of the Electric Yellow died and two of the "female" Kenyi turned out to be males.

It's been running for about a month or so now. One Kenyi runs all the fish away from one side of the tank. He's marked "his" territory and that's it. There's no nipping or anything like that yet. Just runs everyone off. 1/2 tank for 1 fish, 1/2 tank for 13 fish. I know that I can rearrange my rocks ever week or so to help with the aggression and maybe having only one male Kenyi will really help as well. I'm just not the type to rearrange rocks every week or two.

My wife wants to get rid of the two "aggressive" male Kenyi. I told her that if we remove the two then the remaining will turn bright yellow and become aggressive. Why did I purchase the Kenyi, LFS owner. "You won't have any problems, they are calm, just hand me the credit card... that's a good boy..."

Anyway, I have a few options and wanted to see what you all think.

Exchange three male Kenyi for:
A) three female Kenyi.
B) Four (1 male/3 female) Rusty. Worried that they'll just blend in with the Acei.
C) three Peacocks. I know mixing Mbuna isn't the best but the Electric yellow and Acei seem really tame. Perhaps that's because of the Kenyi.
D) don't get any more fish.

Thanks for reading.
 
IMHO - last option. The ones you have really don't lose their looks at all when they get large, so I'd be inclined to let 'em grow out and leave well enough alone. Be sure to do a little rearranging whenever you add/remove fish...
 
My wife wants to get rid of the two "aggressive" male Kenyi. I told her that if we remove the two then the remaining will turn bright yellow and become aggressive.[/QUOTE said:
I'M sure you know but the blue Kenyi are females!
Click to expand...
 
Blue Kenyi = females. Yep, I had that covered when I went to purchase the fish. I purchased one full yellow male and four blue Kenyi. I got them rather small. After about one week one of the blue fish started to turn yellow. It's practically all yellow. I need to really look to see which is original vs. the transitioned fish. The other male is still 60% blue but seems very clear that it's a non-dominant male.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I want to remove the male Kenyi. Hopefully this doesn't affect the females much. Wife likes the blue color.

I'd like to get some more fish. I bet that the LFS will try to talk me into some Laps. He tried to talk me into one/few Nimbochromis venustu.l No doubt they look cool but I don't think that it's right for my 75 gallon. A potential 10" fish with a bunch of 4"-6" fish??

Anyway, we'll see what happens.
 
I'd go with the Rusty Cichlids. I wouldn't keep Peacocks with even female Kenyi.....they just don't have the aggression level to defend themselves IME. If you got rid of all the Kenyi, then I'd suggest replacing them with a group of Peacocks. Otherwise, go with some Rusties. They are mostly brown, so shouldn't blend in with the Acei. I know they have a purplish irridescence to them, but don't look all purple. I've never kept them, but the LFS has a couple big ones in their Mbuna tank.

Mbuna are mean fish. :D I knew that to begin with when I started my tank, but didn't realize just how mean they were....so I'm currently in the process of turning my Mbuna tank into a peaceful Tanganyikan tank.

Good luck with your mbuna!
 
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Kenyi's agression is over rated IMO females are pretty calm and dont require much territory. My males are agressive mainly because there are two and they are always fighting over females. They realitively only get agressive with their own kind (other kenyi).
 
I would stay away from Venustus, they'll be ok when they're little but once they hit 3-4 inches they'll start terrorizing any peacocks and mbuna. I quit getting haps for now and im just sticking with peacocks & mbuna, there are plenty of varieties to fill any tank up.
 
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