Adding Fish

[FishyPastor]

Last Sunday I received four kenyi cichlids and 2 fairy cichlids. The Kenyi male is in a breeding mood since I put them in ther tank on sunday. What is the best way to add other fish like Malawi cichlids, and African catfish etc. to the tank. So I can avoid territorial issues. The tank is a 55 gallon setup as a Cichlid tank with hiding places etc. There are no other fish in there now, the size of the Cichlids are 2-3 inchs. My goal is to setup the tank as a african spcies tank.

[Sharon]

If you can cycle the 55gal setup first, and then add all the fish at once, things go much more smoothly. Malawis are territorial and mean, and the "new" fish sometimes gets killed. Adding all at once puts them on an "even playing field".....

[Red]

If you want to take a chance and add the fish later, make sure when you put them in, to rearrange all decorations, changing there territory.

[Deleted User]

I have a rift lake set up and I have had no problems adding fish at a later date. As long as the numbers you want to add are around groups of 9
( nine ) or more and as mentioned you move all the rocks around it will work.:ssmile:

[FishyPastor]

Does this hold true when your adding non Cichlid species? like catfish or a pleco?

[deathtroll]

I would change the decorations then add them if I'm only ading 1 or 2 fish I stand there with the favorite treats in my hand ready to distract them. I find that that will buy some time for the new fish to find a place to hide.
you might have some aggression issues until you get more cichlids in the tank.

[kaybee]

Ideally:

1) The non-mbuna's should be placed in the tank first. The exception would be if the non-mbuna's are semi-aggressive or aggressive in nature.

2) Add all mbuna's simultaneously, or, alternatively, stock in groups of 4+ incrementally, starting with the least aggressive species....the most aggressive species (such as kenyi) should be added last in the tank. Adding less than three new mbunas at a time can enable the new guys to be singled out.

Additionally, subsequent juvenile mbuna's are easier to add to a system than introducing matured specimens if matured mbuna's are already established in the tank.

Things get a lot harder when the established mbunas are 5" or 6" and a new matured 4"-5" mbuna is added to the mix. Juvies are typically too small to be considered threats by the established larger cichlids and if the established cichlids are themselves juvies, they're unable to dish out the type of punishment that the adults can.

[Dixie]

Kenyi are known to be really aggressive mean mbuna and I've heard at least a 75g. tank is what's recommended for them with one male and at least 4 females kenyi to keep him happy. I have 1 male and only 2 female kenyi in a 55g. and they have been fine for almost 2 years so there are exceptions. I've never had fry from them though. When I bought them as juvies, there was already a full grown red zebra that was the tank boss so that might be what has kept the kenyi in check.

[FishyPastor]

This is a stupid question it seems now I have one male and one female kenyi, How do I dertemine the ssex to purchase a nother female or so?

[FishyPastor]

Thnaks for the info it is quite helpful.

[deathtroll]

the males will be yellow when mature and the females will be blue. but so will immature males

[FishyPastor]

Thank you.

[Dixie]

I bought a male and a female when they were pretty small. Must have been a dominate male to be male colored so young. Since then I have bought several young blue ones, hoping for females, that later started turning male colored so I traded them in because I was afraid 2 males would fight. I've since read that females will sometimes start to take on male coloration to get out of breeding/breeding aggression. Kenyi are sometimes like auratus...they look female until they get some size to them. If you can't find adults to purchase, you just have to buy several and wait while they grow and change color.