[GaFishMan1181]

I've decided to keep only one tank up and running at my house (besides a 20gL for timeout/hospital). That one tank is an all male 55g mbuna tank. Right now I have 7 fish in there. This is my second go at all male mbuna (last go was 2 1/2 years ago).

Current stock 55g
-Labeotropheus fuelleborni (Katale Island)
-Pseduotropheus salosi
-Iodotropheus sprengera "Rusty"
-"Perlmutt"
-Cynotilapia afra (Likoma)
-Pseduotropheus socolofi (albino)
-Cynotilapia "Hara"

The fish range in size from the largest a fuellborni (~5.5") to the smallest an afra (~2.25). The saulosi and afra have similar color/barring which might become a problem. The saulosi is full grown so the afra really hasnt stood up to him yet. The fuelleborni is a big fish and is very bossy. He could definitly do the most damage. Not sure the odds of this working out but i do have more experience now and have a spare tank for hospital purposes.

While searching the forum for all male mubna species suggestions I landed on a post from two years ago were i replied to someone asking about an all male mbuna tank. I told them that i thought a 55g was too small for an all male mbuna tank. :lol: So going against my own advice I now have a 55g all male mbuna...again. ha

Also I am in need of two more fish. Only problem is the local selection is not that good and I'm not going to buy 2 fish online. So with that in mind.

From this list which two would you pick to add to my tank?

-Sciaenochromis Fryeri
-Metriaclima greshakei (albino or standard)
-Metriaclima estherae "red zebra"
-Labidochromis caeruleus "yellow lab"
-Pseudotropheus "acei" yellow tail
-OB hybrid Peacock

I know the selection is slim but this is about all i have to choose from right now (except a kenyi but i didnt even list him).

I will update this post when I make changes to the tank or just to let you know how the tank is working out.

Thanks for reading and wish me luck!

 

[esparzar1]

WHOOOHOOOO!

I know we've talked a bit in the past and I say go for it! I love the all male Mbuna tank set-up! I've had mine going on almost 2 yrs now. A few quick observations form your post. IMO....

I'd get rid of the fuelleborni (too big and might get too aggressive for some of the cyno's)

I'd also stay away from any hap/peacocks...I've tried them and they eventually don't work out (even my OB died )

From the list you suggested, I'd go with the Acei and Red Zebra or Acei, YL and Greshakei if you replace the fuelleborni! Good luck!

 

[esparzar1]

I guess not that many people are interested in the all-male mbuna idea.....lol....Anyways, in your comments regarding the Afra/Saulosi.....I think you might be okay in the short term but might have problems when they are all grown. I've heard of all-male mbuna tanks with multiple cyno's and other similar barred species with only minor problems. I still think it's kinda a chance but give it a shot! You have the hospital tank set-up which is good, I'd remove the bully and leave the bullied in the main tank (if it comes to that).

I recently had remove my Met. Aurora from my tank. It's always a constant suffle. He was getting bullied by not just one but, most of my males. He didn't get damaged or beat up, just constantly chased. So, I put him in my 30gal Saulosi colony and he seems much happier. The Saulosi don't mind him and they still stay colored up even though he's about 4in and most of my Saulosi's are only about 2-2.5 in. I'm hoping he doesn't grow too much more because 30gal is not much room however, if he stays around 4-4.5 in then I don't see any problems with it!

Alright, now I'm just yapping away....lol.....As I said before, I like your list except for the fuelleborni. I think he's just too much of a risk. Is he an OB? If you like the color of that fish, why don't you look at a OB zebra? That would still give you the color you're looking for while at the same time giving you a smaller and less aggressive fish. I think you have the right idea for the tank (get as many males that look different but still have simliar temperments). Good luck and continue to let us/me know how things go!

 

[noki]

I don't think it makes much difference between a Fuelleborni or Zebra. Both can be tough.

Are you guessing on the location of the Fuelleborni or Afra? You can't really assume random fish are exact races.

I would want more than 7 or 9 fish. Personally I don't see a big advantage in having a male tank. Any of your additions would be okay except a S. fryeri may not do well. Yellow labs would do fine but they are very hard to sex.

 

[esparzar1]

I don't think it makes much difference between a Fuelleborni or Zebra. Both can be tough.
Are you guessing on the location of the Fuelleborni or Afra? You can't really assume random fish are exact races.

I would want more than 7 or 9 fish. Personally I don't see a big advantage in having a male tank. Any of your additions would be okay except a S. fryeri may not do well. Yellow labs would do fine but they are very hard to sex.

From my experience, 9 times outta 10 the fuelleborni is gonna big bigger and meaner.

Have you ever had a all-male mbuna tank noki? I say to each thier own but, I'd take an all-male mbuna over 3 species tank in a 55gal all day, everyday! Labs are not any harder to sex than any of the other monomorphic species and you really can't go more than about 7-10 single mbunas in a 55 gal. Anyway, it's usually a juggling act to maintain but the results are well worth it in my opinion :thumb:

 

[GaFishMan1181]

Are you guessing on the location of the Fuelleborni or Afra? You can't really assume random fish are exact races.

The fuelle was wild caught and imported by wet spot. He is definitly katale and is standard not OB. The afra is a F1 from Daves.

@esparzar1 - Thanks for the comments and I know you've had your all male running for a while so i'm glad you decided to comment on my post. The fuelle is probably my favorite fish so he is going to be really hard to get rid off. I'm definitly keeping my eye on him but so far he hasnt hurt anyone and will stay in the tank.
The afra and the perlmutt have small bites out of their fin and i've seen the saulosi chasing them a bit (guessing he did the fin bitting) but so far nothing even close to a serious problem.

 

[esparzar1]

man, that makes is tough to get rid of since it's a WC and the Afra is a F1 :drooling: ....perhaps you could go with a few more "aggressive" species to even out the temper of the fuelle? Is he full grown at 5.5? If so, then you might be okay. My Met. Gresh. is at least 6in and I think he's done growing. He's a freakin beast...lol...big and fat but since he's now completly full grown, he's calmed down and is not aggresive in any way, shape, or form, he just chills in his cave most of the day. Maybe, once things calm down a bit the fuelle won't be so bad? Another idea would be to remove the fuelle while you stock the other fish and add him last once everyone is established :-? :-? It might help! I also think (or at least hope) that once everyone is established things will calm down. When I first started out with the all male idea I had lots of "trail and errors" for the first few months. But now, everyone is chill and they get along. Heck, I'd even say that there is less aggression now then when I had M/F ratios in the tank...lol........Anyway, you better post some pics when you are all set...lol

 

[GaFishMan1181]

When i got the fuelle he was ~5". He's probably only put on a half an inch in the last year or so. Theres a good chance he will not grow much more. Also I have no idea how old he is. He's actually alot more chill then i thought he would be with the other males. When I come up to the tank and he thinks its dinner time he will start moving the fish out of the way but hasn't done any serious chasing or hasn't tried to nip at a fish. Seems he is just using his size to intimidate the other fish out of the way.

I've heard from alot of people that once they get full grown they calm down a bit (like with your m. greshakei). Hopefully my fuelle is close to this stage of his life.

The afra is a perfect example on one side of his body but has a little flaw on the other (one bar splits into two at the bottom). He's still a really cool fish and awsome looking.

Yeah i will definitly post some pics of the tank once the fish get into the groove of things. I'll also let you know what other species i pick. There is one more store i can go to in town that has a decent selection so i'll probably check them out too. As of now i'm leaning towards an acei.

 

[esparzar1]

Sounds like you lucked out with the fuelle :thumb:

The Acei would be a great choice to add! Mine is around 6in and minds his own buisness! He's at the bottom of the male dominance chain but his sheer size keeps most of the other males dissinterested. So are you looking at only adding the Acei now? Or are you still looking at maybe a few others? You have a good mix while avoiding too many similar looking species. I'd like to add maybe one more to my current stock but I'm afraid it might throw things outta harmony. I personally think my current mix has too much blue/purple in the tank (Met. gresh/Acei/Cobalt/) even the Polit looks dark purple when subdominant. I've tried to avoid multiple barred species by just having the ZLP and Hongi SRT but, I still don't know the long term affects of those two (I added them last and my SRT is still a juvie at only 2 in) they are okay right now (ZLP/SRT) but I'm afraid of what will happen when the SRT gets full grown. I'm in the same boat as you...lol...my SRT is an F1 and I don't want to get rid of him. I guess it's just a waiting game

 

[esparzar1]

I don't mean to "highjack" your thread but I wanted to show what my fish look like in my 55gal!!!!!

P.S. It's a really crappy camera so the pics might not be the best...lol

4.5 inch Yellow Lab

5 inch Red Zebra

6 inch Acei

6 inch Ice Blue...this pic turned out a little weird for some reason, he's a lot more purple than the pic

4 inch Polit

5 inch Cobalt

4.5 inch Zebra Long Pelvic

2.75 Msobo **Has not changed color yet, starting to show black tips on bottom fins and blue on dorsal fin**

No pics of my Hongi SRT....he's small and a bit camera shy

 

[GaFishMan1181]

Your fish look great! Most of them are close to full grown and are all showing nice color. Also I didnt see any nipped or torn fins. Must be getting along nicely in that 55g :thumb:.

I went to the LFS yesterday but didnt buy anything. Terrible selection. So I decided to order 3 fish online. If i go for 10 and end up having to remove 1 or 2 then i will be at the number i need. I ordered a p. acei ngara "white tail acei", "msobo", and a "hongi". Fish dont ship till next week so if anyone wants to comment on those choices please do. I can still make changes to my order for a couple more days.

 

[RRasco]

I'm converting my 55g mbuna to an all male shortly as well. It's mainly various males as is, but I do have breeding groups of hara (4) and acei (3) in there, but they are moving to breeding tanks in the next few weeks. I thought I was alone in the all male mbuna land. Was pretty sure somebody else had or was doing it, but I never heard it mentioned. Good to know there has been previous success!

 

[esparzar1]

Gafishman,
I love your choices :thumb: =D> That will be a great selection to have and a great color scheme for the species as well! 10 should be okay....I have 9 and most of them are full grown but sometimes it still seems like I can add more, so 10 should be perfect!

RRasco,
I think more people don't do it because its definetly tough to find good harmony. Once you do though, I think it's well worth it! Good luck

 

[LanceN34]

Your fish look great! Most of them are close to full grown and are all showing nice color. Also I didnt see any nipped or torn fins. Must be getting along nicely in that 55g :thumb:.

I went to the LFS yesterday but didnt buy anything. Terrible selection. So I decided to order 3 fish online. If i go for 10 and end up having to remove 1 or 2 then i will be at the number i need. I ordered a p. acei ngara "white tail acei", "msobo", and a "hongi". Fish dont ship till next week so if anyone wants to comment on those choices please do. I can still make changes to my order for a couple more days.

Hongi's are such cool fish. The range of colors that they can change is amazing. Mine can look like 10 different fish. Sometimes he's almost all black, then blue with stripes, then when he's really fired up he's a lavender color with black stripes.

 

[GaFishMan1181]

@RRasco- Awsome, welcome to the club! Whats the stocklist of your tank going to be?

@esparzar1- I've wanted a white tail acei for sometime now so thats exciting. I'm just hoping they do a good job of sexing him (fingers crossed). I had and order from a different place (years ago) where i wanted a male daktari and it came holding fry in its mouth so....hoping this time will be different.

I'm also exicited about the msobo. I wanted a smaller one so most likely he will be somewhere around the stage yours is at. It will be interesting to see what he ends up looking like. They all look so different.

@LanceN34- Thats good to hear. I've seen some pretty awsome pics of hongis and have noticed the wide range of colors they show. Hows the temperament of your hongi?

 

[RRasco]

@RRasco- Awsome, welcome to the club! Whats the stocklist of your tank going to be?

Current:

3 Pseudotropheus elegans Luwala Reef 'Yellow Tail Acei'
1 Labidochromis Caeruleus
5 Cynotilapia sp. 'White Top Hara'
1 Melanochromis auratus
1 Lodotropheus sprengerae 'Rusty'
1 Pseudotropheus socolofi
1 Tropheops sp. 'Red Cheek'

Everything in there is already male, except for the YL which is a female and the groups of Hara and Acei, which I will be removing. I have an extra male Hara and Acei I will be leaving in there.

So.....instead of rambling, I am planning to start with:

Pseudotropheus elegans Luwala Reef 'Yellow Tail Acei'
Labidochromis Caeruleus (need to find a male to replace my female)
Cynotilapia sp. Hara
Melanochromis auratus
Lodotropheus sprengerae 'Rusty'
Pseudotropheus socolofi
Tropheops sp. 'Red Cheek'

I lost my Red Zebra and Polit in the last 6 months, so I'd like to try them again at some point. Don't think aggression played a role, but you never know. I'd also like a White Tail Acei. Then I'll sit back and see how it works out.

 

[esparzar1]

Rasco,

How does the red cheek troph and auratus hold up in the tank. They're both pretty aggressive but I guess if they didn't have females to chase and pick on they might be a bit calmer :-? I've always like the red cheek but I was always afraid that it would be to aggressive for the other fish.

 

[Malawi_Marc]

I've done it and had a great experience, no problems at all!

I added small round mirrors in the tank, it kept them
coloured up thinking there was another male of the same species in the tank and it also helped keep aggression down.

 

[RRasco]

Rasco,

How does the red cheek troph and auratus hold up in the tank. They're both pretty aggressive but I guess if they didn't have females to chase and pick on they might be a bit calmer :-? I've always like the red cheek but I was always afraid that it would be to aggressive for the other fish.

They're both docile in that tank. The Red Cheek actually gets a bite here and there overnight. Not sure if he's provoking it, but I don't ever see him starting anything. The Hara is the king of the tank.

 

[PortiaD]

Mine isn't all male and my stocking is currently more than a little messed up, but I had one OB I had to return to the peacock tank and another who chomped my juvie johanii's tail off. However, the tail chomping was because my power was off most of the day and my cynotilapia lion decided he was a she when the temperature dropped and started laying eggs. (The johanii is now in quarantine recovering and waiting for the day he grows up to exact his revenge.)

So some OB's can hold their own...in my admitedly very, very limited experience.