preventing breeding, please help

[SaveThemAll1]

Could be a Cynotilapia mbamba... grey Bulky fish. LOL. Females are the grey ones, males are brilliantly colored. Your female C. mbamba is probably in breeding condition or mouthbrooding causing her to have a bulky appearance. This is why I think it could be Cynotilapia mbamba. Most people will have pictures of males though. Your welcome if this proves correct!
https://www.malawicichlidhomepage.co..._mbamba11.html

She is blue not grey..
Btw i just remembered that a few years ago the socolofi lived with a female auratus. and they lived together for over a yeear with no breeeding or laying eggs, that means that the socolofi is for sure a female, right>?

[The Cichlid Keeper]

Auratus have the ability to change from male to female, and sometimes Mbuna can take awhile to convince to inter-breed. Particularly adults. I would like to see a picture of the Socolofi; is that okay? Not sure if the male and female look alike. I haven't had success breeding Mbuna with two fish in the same tank, namely a Cobalt Blue Pearl Variant and Maingano, so I doubt that is absolute evidence to start calling the Socolofi a female. Males are more aggressive than females. Does this information help?

[The Cichlid Keeper]

Make that just two Mbuna with two Peacocks, Mbuna didn't breed. Not once. I think you may need to have more than one female with one male. Your so called Cobalt Blue Cichlid is not holding from the last photo. There may be a few eggs, but hardly any to make it obvious.

[Slaphppy7]

Auratus have the ability to change from male to female

False; the males change colors, but not sex

https://www.seriouslyfish.com/specie...romis-auratus/

[The Cichlid Keeper]

I suppoese that is accurate my male Auratus has changed to female coloring from time to time but has stayed a male. I had thought that what everyone was telling me meant the opposite thing. Well, I don't think the color is very good on the photo but if the fish is blue, then it's a Cobalt Blue. Females also can change to male coloration being dominant. I misinterpreted this information.

[chiefbrody]

The reason i want to prevent is in order to PREVENT suffering.. being eaten alive is a horrible thing..

Seriously? Big fish eat little fish. That's what they do. It's our job to target our efforts in a way that promotes what naturally occurs in nature. If we create an unsutainable plastic habitat for these animals I'd argue that we actually contribute more to their "suffering" that way than by allowing them to eat live foods.