dieing bumble bee

[deathtroll]

I just found one of my bumble bee's kind of floating stiff but not yet dead. it was fine and doing good a couple of hours ago I left the room and found it when I came back in. so I'm not sure who did it.

[gm72]

We need your tank information in order to help you.

[deathtroll]

55 GAL with all the wrong stock I think I figured out who attacked him one of my red zebra's went on a rampage last night. well what was working out for a couple of months isn't working any more time to redo my stock. the bee died from its wounds
so now to fix what is left of my tank
I curently have 2 adult met. greshakei 1m 1f 2 fry greshakei they will stay
1 bumble bee
2 kenyi 1m 1f
2 mel. auratus 1m 1f
2 red zebra ?
1 sailfin pleco
1 senegal bichir
1 rainbow shark
1 catfish
I know this tank is a diaster when it comes to the stock some will have to go and others will have to have more females

amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20.

[Dixie]

Red zebras can be pretty aggressive but typically is the milder of the mbuna that you have. The bumble bee, kenyi, and auratus can get way meaner than the red zebra and really need a bigger tank than a 55g. because of aggression and also because the bumble bee gets real big (I'm thinking 10" but could be wrong on that). I would decide on a stocking list by first doing some research then set out finding what you want to stock with. The only thing I would keep is the red zebras & the pleco. I don't know anything about the bichir, shark, or catfish so don't know how they would do with mbuna. Good luck.

[deathtroll]

so far the only time the male auratus acts up is if another male auratus gets added and starts to mature.
I'm thinking about another tank for the red zebra and something else
this tank I'm thinking about going with the greshakei and auratus and maybe third species
the shark as soon as I get another tank that isn't full of fry is getting moved
the bichir gets along fine nobody messes with him
right now I'm working on getting enough females for the greshakei and auratus. unfortently I can't seam to find any female greshakei localy so I have to grow them out

[Dixie]

That sounds like a plan. I have auratus (1M. 3F.)in my 55g. with alot of other mbuna and they do ok now that there is only one male but from what I hear it isn't really the norm. for a 55g. tank. I don't have any greshakei but have alot of auratus fry.

[deathtroll]

I have a lot of greshakei fry and some auratus still in the tumbler. I'm working on moving some of the fish out of the tank but have to do it slowly because I can't find any greshakei and all the auratus that I can get localy are still really small and if the number of fish in the tank get to low my greskakei gets really aggressive

I had five other auratus but they turned out to male.
any ideals on a third speices

[Dixie]

I've never had greshakei but believe they can get pretty aggressive too. A 55g. is suppose to be to small for really aggressive species of mbuna. If you're set on keeping greshakei and auratus I wouldn't add a third species that is real mellow for a mbuna. The red zebras should be about the same aggression wise or kenyi. I really think it's asking for trouble though and would rather see 3 milder species mbuna in a 55g. tank.

I know what you mean about finding female auratus. I've lost count of the number I've bought hoping for females only to have them turn out to be male. I finally have 3 that I think are female and some fry. I'm planning on a bigger tank though.

[deathtroll]

I think in te end this tank will be only the greshakei and auratus

I'm not having any luck with the auratus fry they dissapeared from my tumbler yesterday they wern't free swimming yet so I think some of my greshakei fry helped themself to a free meal still not sure how they got into or out of it yet

now to figure out how to get down to just the fish I want I can't just remove the others and can't find any good size to replace them with if the number of mbuna in the tank get to low my greshakei will try to eliminate any other fish other than his female