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94 Posts
After countless bouts of aggression and murder- my mbuna stock is almost all gone...
I had tons of problems with a dominant male red zebra that I finally gave away- but when I was trying to find a solution I bought 4 auratus, one of which I knew was a male. I knew it was a ticking time bomb, but I had no problems for over a year. Even moved all the stock into another tank when our fish room was finished... Things were fine for 2 months and then fish began to be picked off again- and it was the male auratus. This weekend he killed the 2 female auratus, bringing me down to 4 cobalts, 1 greshakei (left from an original group of 6 2 years ago), and 1 auratus. Ugh. So I moved the 4 cobalts (1 male, 3 females) to my yellow lab tank, a 40 breeder. The yellow labs are still small, no bigger than 2 inches, and the largest cobalt is no more than 4 inches. Everyone seemed to be fine when I combined them, so I'm hoping I can keep them together for a little while.
I left the male auratus and the male greshakei together in the 55g they were in originally- I put in a divider but they just knocked it down so I took it out... I've gotten frustrated at the whole situation, because I had such a hard time getting my gender ratios right and even then my girls would get murdered when they spawned. I don't know what I'm going to do with my two bachelor fish, I don't work at the chain store anymore- I used to be able to find homes for them with customers (that's what I did with the red zebra) and I doubt my lfs would want them, although I may ask next time I'm in there.
I just wanted to vent my frustration at this tank...I lost my two favorite fish in the tank, an OB zebra and a male cobalt that I had nursed back to health before and now I'm ready to be done with it. Of course I also have a lot of other fish and I'm tired of the snotty behavior of my mbuna!
I had tons of problems with a dominant male red zebra that I finally gave away- but when I was trying to find a solution I bought 4 auratus, one of which I knew was a male. I knew it was a ticking time bomb, but I had no problems for over a year. Even moved all the stock into another tank when our fish room was finished... Things were fine for 2 months and then fish began to be picked off again- and it was the male auratus. This weekend he killed the 2 female auratus, bringing me down to 4 cobalts, 1 greshakei (left from an original group of 6 2 years ago), and 1 auratus. Ugh. So I moved the 4 cobalts (1 male, 3 females) to my yellow lab tank, a 40 breeder. The yellow labs are still small, no bigger than 2 inches, and the largest cobalt is no more than 4 inches. Everyone seemed to be fine when I combined them, so I'm hoping I can keep them together for a little while.
I left the male auratus and the male greshakei together in the 55g they were in originally- I put in a divider but they just knocked it down so I took it out... I've gotten frustrated at the whole situation, because I had such a hard time getting my gender ratios right and even then my girls would get murdered when they spawned. I don't know what I'm going to do with my two bachelor fish, I don't work at the chain store anymore- I used to be able to find homes for them with customers (that's what I did with the red zebra) and I doubt my lfs would want them, although I may ask next time I'm in there.
I just wanted to vent my frustration at this tank...I lost my two favorite fish in the tank, an OB zebra and a male cobalt that I had nursed back to health before and now I'm ready to be done with it. Of course I also have a lot of other fish and I'm tired of the snotty behavior of my mbuna!
