Quarantine all new arrivals to an existing community tank for an absolute minimum of 4 weeks. The day when you’re ready to introduce the new arrivals, rearrange and change all of the decor in the community tank. Then, after lights out - just put the new Chindongo saulosi into the tank. It seems to help a bit if the newcomers are smaller/juvenile sized, but not so small as to just be eaten by the much larger, original residents.
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NOTE: Part of the problem is your 36 inch long tank. The minimum size aquarium recommended for keeping just about ANY African Mbuna is a 48 inch long tank. One of the smallest of those 48 inch long aquariums is the 33 gallon ‘long’ style tank, which will work in much better fashion for keeping those aggressive Cichlids, than anything shorter in length.

 

If you want to try to make the 36G work, I would add females so you end up with 1m:11f. Once things are stable, you might be able to get three males instead of one (never two males). Aggression is better managed with lots of fish. This stock suggestion is unique to saulosi and is unlikely to work with other species.

When was the last death? Bloat tends to take a fish about once/month and people think it is over when it is not. The fish that is impacted at the moment does not eat and has white/clear and thin/thready feces. You don't want to leave a stressed fish in the aquarium...you want to isolate the fish and treat.

 

Thanks for the reply. I only have the one tank so no community tank. I realize that 36” is pushing the boundaries for mbuna but only had room for that. Maybe, I just need to change to a more peaceful species. Or just go with the 3 group that I have. The 2 females seem to be handling the male aggression ok. Not ideal as the tank needs more fish really.

 

My understanding if Malawi bloat is fish getting too much meat protein and not enough vegies. So it isnt really contagious like parasites. The 3 that didnt make it I have to contribute to stress from harassment. Im no expert but one of the surviving females was ready to lay eggs and very territorial. She and the male chased the other females relentlessly

 

Low protein/high plant food is good for mbuna, but thought to be not a major cause of bloat anymore. Stress is the cause...stress can be caused by lots of things including poor quality food, chasing, etc. Fish don't just die of stress, it makes them susceptible to diseases like bloat.

You don't want to leave a stressed fish in the aquarium...you want to isolate the fish and treat if there are symptoms like not eating and/or feces problems. Usually there is no need for a harassed fish to die. Having lots of females spreads the aggression so each fish can tolerate the problem.

 

Are you sure the ones that died are females? Young males are yellow and look like females. Did you "Vent" to confirm?? I too had only a 36" tank for a school of Saulosi , but is 60gals. I had 4 males and 11 females at it's height. Here is a side view of tank, the fish move too fast.

 

I’m just going to add something….you might also not have enough rockwork in the aquarium. If you add enough rocks, you can often keep fairly aggressive species in smaller aquariums. But, too many rocks and the fish just stay hidden in their territories, so it makes a rather boring display. So it can take some trial and error, especially if you’re a new mbuna keeper, or you’re not working with an ideal sized aquarium.

 

I have had a Saulosi colony in my 75 gal. tank for a little over two years. I started the colony with one male and two females (not by choice. long story) In a little over a month, I saw the first babies, six of them, swimming in and out of the rocks. More babies followed. Then the number of new arrivals slowed down. After a year, the colony stabilized at around 20. Babies are now few and far between and none have survived to free swimming with others for months.

I enjoyed watching the colony grow immensely. If you have a male and a couple females, and enough rock work, be patient. Your colony will grow and all will be fine.