Need expert opinion!

[czerwony]

Hi, all im new to all this aquarium stuff and i need some help!

I bought these 2 fish (still dont know there names as i was never provided with the proper name) and 1st day they were in the tank everything was fine they swam together and all was well (3 days ago). Last night the smaller one of two started attacking the bigger one and they had a fight, so as of last night the bigger one spend all day staying on top of tank hiding from the other fish. What do i need to do to resolve the problem? Do i get more of the same kind or just get rid of the trouble maker? lol.

I appreciate all the help i can get!!!

Thanks,
Jakub

[czerwony]

I see picture is too small if need to make bigger let me know

Cheers!!!

[BelieveInBlue]

Well they look like African cichlids... But that's all I can tell you with that size of a picture...

[czerwony]

here's a bigger picture......sorry

[er201]

That looks like a Kenyi Cichlid (Metriaclima lombardoi). They're known to be agressive, so I think they're just acting normal.

[rich16]

Agree with er201. Looks like my Kenyi. My wife calls him "that a-hole fish". He's pretty much the boss of the tank.

You have a few options...get rid of the troublemaker, or add a harem of females for him (3-4 at least). If you don't have a lot of fish in the tank, it also makes it easier for him to pick on a couple singly. Overcrowding the tank may help somewhat, although that could be an expensive experiment!

[czerwony]

Agree with er201. Looks like my Kenyi. My wife calls him "that a-hole fish". He's pretty much the boss of the tank.

You have a few options...get rid of the troublemaker, or add a harem of females for him (3-4 at least). If you don't have a lot of fish in the tank, it also makes it easier for him to pick on a couple singly. Overcrowding the tank may help somewhat, although that could be an expensive experiment!

how do i know which are the female?

[er201]

Males are yellow females are light blue

[czerwony]

Males are yellow females are light blue

Thank you!!!!

[-DC-]

How big is the tank ? Looks a bit off from a true pseudotropheus lombardoi or kenyi, but it could just be the lighting, the one above it is too blurry for a proper id but given the stripe down the center of the fish and blue tint i'd say its a male auratus or melanochromis auratus

Kenyi are notorious for being aggressive even for Mbuna, will need at least 4 females otherwise they will likely get picked off. and Auratus they are even worse very aggressive i do not recommend getting females for it unless you can get 10-12 and have a very large tank, otherwise he'll kill them all !

In both species female color and male color are easy too tell apart, problem is for both species males are born with female colors and only change when they mature, too make it worse in a group normally only the dominate male will change color sub-dom males are capable of keeping female colors into maturity lol

Advice given is correct , but females may not necessarily fix the situation could make things worse. Heavy stocking/ over crowding (within reason lol) does seem too disperse aggression but you have too boost the filtration and WC routine too match.

the true key too mbuna rockwork! you need more caves then fish

No matter what you do you Mbuna will fight. all day every day. It's just what healthy mbuna do. Wont matter what you stock they fight, what you need too ensure is that you match your rock-work with your stocking.

you must provide ample space/caves/cracks some larger too allow territories too form and many small cracks for injured/stressed fish too hide in and recover from an attacker. Also for success you'll need a tank 55+ gallons otherwise you just dont have enough footprint too accommodate Mbuna, they are just too aggressive