Tankmates for a male m.auratus?

[MattyJFly]

Howdy,

My 55G cichlid tank currently houses a male m.aurutus (4") has grown to be quite the aggressor. He tolerates some of the fish in the tank (and strangely gets along with them), but he picks off the others and brutalizes any new tank entries. I guess I should've known this going in, but now I'm stuck with a depleted tank that supports the aurutus and only a couple pals.

Any advice one what fish might be able to hold their own?

--Matt

 

[Slappy*McFish]

How about a female?

 

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

You could try the one male auratus plus maybe 7-9 females. Auratus are notoriously aggressive and I wouldnt even dare keep them in my 90 gallon mixed malawi tank.

They really only work in heavily stocked aggressive mbuna tanks OR species only setups with plenty of females and rockwork.

In a 55 gallon I dont suggest overstocking though, so a species only setup will be your best bet.


-Diana

 

[garyml]

When I have that problem (I've had it several times) I take the aggressor out of the tank and put him in a tank by himself. I put the fish that I want in the original tank and then put the agressor back after the new fish have been in there a few days. Change the tank around a little before you put him back. It helps if you have a big male of another species to kind of mellow him out. I had a lot of problems with mine until I put a big red zebra in with him. Now everyone gets along fairly well. Sometimes you can never get them to get along. If they are of the same sub species they may not ever get along. I have a Melanochromis Interruptus and a Melanochromis Auratus living in the same tank now (its a 210 gallon) but, I had to introduce them into the tank together several times to get them to stop fighting. The interesting thing is the one that lost twice is the top dog now (the Auratus). Hope this helps.

 

[lowie]

malawi

i think a malawi mixed tank is gd i have one male n one female they have splawended n r quite happy with other malawis