[Fishing Rod]

I was wondering if anyone has ever tried an all male Calvus/Comp tank, and if so what were the results??

Thanks
Rod

 

[jrf]

I started off with six juvenile Calvus and ended up with 5 males and 1 female. Consequently, I’ve been trying to find something that works with my extra males. So, at the moment, I have 4 males and no females in a 40 breeder ( 36 x 18 ) with no other fish in the tank. Frankly, it boring to watch.

One male is dominant and no one stands up to him. They all just spend their time staying out of his way. One of the subdominant males looks like he’ll have to come out as he’s stuck hiding behind the filter intake. The aggression consists of the main male pushing the subdominant males from spot to spot - no torn fins or physical injuries. He doesn’t chase them when they flee, but he is adamant about not letting them claim any territory for themselves.

I’m thinking about introducing some other fish to the tank to see if it keeps the alpha male distracted. I’ll probably also try a few different rock arrangements to see if it changes anything. But as it stands, I wouldn’t consider this a successful arrangement. It's not a fun tank to watch and I'm not really satisfied with the quality of life of the subdominant males.

 

[prov356]

I would think that no matter which variants might be put together, they'd ignore color differences and do battle. Would you agree jrf?

 

[DJRansome]

Wouldn't you have to try it without ANY females?

But yes, I would expect the result to be they would still battle because they are so closely related and close in appearance. Even in an all-male Malawi tank you avoid look-alikes.

I had 2m:3f in a 72" tank and the extra male had to go. He actually had to live BEHIND the in-tank background 24/7.

 

[jrf]

Wouldn't you have to try it without ANY females?

That's what have. Just 4 males in a 36" tank.

I would think that no matter which variants might be put together, they'd ignore color differences and do battle. Would you agree jrf?

Among species, my inclination is to agree. I don’t think they would differentiate between color variants. I would be interested to hear from someone like Razzo who keeps Comps and Calvus together - not sure how they interact with each other.

With my Calvus, what I see is a strong hierarchical social order. As soon as one of them becomes â€Å"Kingâ€Â

 

[prov356]

Wouldn't you have to try it without ANY females?

Yes, I assumed that's what he was going for. Interesting idea to have an all male comp/calvus tank, like they do all male hap/peacock tanks, but I'd really doubt that it'd work. I'd think you'd have to crowd them as adults and add them all at once. It'd be hard to source, and expensive if you could, with a high risk for failure, so I doubt anyone is going to try this anytime soon. And even if they didn't kill each other, I can't see them happily swimming around together. You'd probable get one dominant one visible while the rest tried to stay out of sight.

 

[jrf]

Interesting idea to have an all male comp/calvus tank, like they do all male hap/peacock tanks, but I'd really doubt that it'd work. I'd think you'd have to crowd them as adults and add them all at once. It'd be hard to source, and expensive if you could, with a high risk for failure, so I doubt anyone is going to try this anytime soon. And even if they didn't kill each other, I can't see them happily swimming around together. You'd probable get one dominant one visible while the rest tried to stay out of sight.

Agreed. Not a high chance of success in my opinion. I'm not sure they would kill eachother. But, I do think you'd end up with a lot of unhappy fish and a tank that isn't much fun to watch.

 

[BioG]

Yes unhappy fish. Plus, Ime, it kinda ruins the subdominant males in a way. I have had a hard time rebreeding and/or re-pairing subdominant males that have spent extended periods with a dominant male. I have even had females beating on a subdominant male!

I like watching the harem behavior myself, much more interesting than fighting and cornering imo.

 

[maxtmill]

Is it possible to have several juvies, then weed them out to 1 make & three females? And can you house these trios of yellows & blacks in the same tank?

 

[prov356]

Not if he's going for an all male tank.

 

[jrf]

Is it possible to have several juvies, then weed them out to 1 make & three females?

Yes, it is typical to start with a group of juveniles and hope to ultimately end up with a single male and multiple females. Calvus males will support a harem of females from what I’ve heard. However, you have to keep in mind that the females also want some space for themselves and will squabble with each other. Just not to the same degree as the males.

And can you house these trios of yellows & blacks in the same tank?

There’s very little reason to believe that they would differentiate between yellow and black color variants. It would still come down to one dominant male Calvus and a recipe for the cross breeding of the color variations because of the mixed females.

 

[BioG]

yeah it would end up being a weird looking mess with females of different variants all over the place and, depending on tank size, probably one male running the whole show. Not a good route if you plan to keep fry cuz you'd have no way who was daddy etc.

Subdominant males will still sneak a milting over a spawning shell if they catch the dominant male slipping so...