[owolelmi]

I recently became a new Mbuna owner. I have a 75g tank, good parameters, etc...

For a Chailosi female, is there any chance that there should be any shade of blue? Im trying really hard to make sure I have correct ratios, but I think of the 6 I have, only 1 is female.... 3 of the fish have prominent blue heads, 2 of them have hints of blue.

I guess Im looking for clarification. I assume that the females have zero blue, but I want to be sure.

 

[BigZX]

I believe females have no blue.

 

[owolelmi]

I believe females have no blue.

That's what I thought. Thanks for the response. Im working on getting more females.

 

[BlueSunshine]

It is possible for a female to show some blue if she is, one or all of these, very dominate, feeling frisky, getting ready to spawn.

 

[noki]

Yes, females of most Mbuna can "imitate" male color to a small degree, but this all depends on context of the make up of the group, so it is difficult to make blanket statements like what does a little bit of blue means if it is a male with little color, or a female. Not sure how much blue you mean. Subdominant males can color up depending on mood, but then lose the color while females cannot really attain full color. Males also get longer fins and more distinguishable eggspots. Females can get small eggspots but don't really attain full male characteristics around other males. Some females can show a good imitation of male color when holding.

Maybe not what you want to hear, but you just have to try to figure it out, part of the fun and frustration of cichlids. It is always possible that someone else who also wanted Chailosi females got most of the likely females and the group you got ended up from a group that was the leftover males.

 

[owolelmi]

*** been watching them very closely, **** my wife is now obsessed with them too. The dominant male was pretty much solid, jet black, where he has black. He has claimed the left 1/3 of the tank. He chases anyone and everyone away. He had a full mouth to mouth battle with one of the males. I rearranged the rocks over there and killed the lights. Last evening and this morning, things appear to have calmed down.

I have 4 more females (fingers crossed) coming, so my ratio is now going to be 5:5 or 4:6. I really feel like Im going to need to get King Chailosi out of there, because it's a matter of when, not if, he ends up killing another fish.