[pafalgo]

Dear All:

I have a 5ft by 2ft by 2ft tank which has a mixed species of mbuna and Aulonocara's. Of the mbuna list I have l. fulleleborni katale male and female pair, Trewavase Chilumba red male and female pair and Kawanga gold male and female (OB) pair. They were originally housed in my second tank which had a Maison reef pair. Now the Maison reef took the full coloration but the Kawanga gold did not. So the question is when will it take it's full color? or will it take at all. My LFS said its a male.
I am attaching a pic of the fish.

Best
Dipanjan

 

[DJRansome]

When kept in pairs, Malawi male has a good chance of killing the female. Whichever species is dominant will show the best color.

How long ago did you move them? Could take some time for them to settle in. Or the Labeotropheus species (either) could be dominant.

I would add females for all species so that you have at least 4 and as many as 7 females in each species group.

 

[pafalgo]

The Kawanga gold has a male female pair. I moved them roughly two weeks ago. Earlier the color was completely brown but now at least you can see the stripes. All the species have females (one male one female). The Labeotropheus were added few days back. Should I add one more male or more females?

 

[DJRansome]

Either remove all females, or have four to seven females for every male, depending on the species.