# Male to Female ratio question!!!!



## masonv (Mar 27, 2011)

From everything I have read.... everyone states to only have 1 male for however many females. I think I fully understand why that would be... because the males of a same species will constantly fight over the females.... correct?!?!?!
Here is my couple of questions?
(1)- for the more peaceful species (yellow labs,aceis) male to female ratio doesn't much matter... correct?
(2)- is there ever a time you could have 2 to 3 males per species? Not counting peacefull species. Also not counting Demasoni, for the fact that you stock so many at once. Also not counting species tanks.
(3)- now say you do have your lone male per species in your tank. what do you do if one of your males die, and you don't have another male in the tank to take over.

Just a couple of questions out of curiosity?


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## shellies215 (Jan 7, 2011)

The male/female ratios that are recommended are not only to prevent aggression between males, it also protects the females. If you had a 1/1 ratio, that male would be constantly harassing that female trying to get her to spawn, which can lead to stress and/or death. If he has 3 or 4 females to try to spawn with, the harassment gets spread out among them, and there is no one female being constantly chased.

Depending on species, and tank size, you might be able to have more than one male, but you would still keep the same ratio or more females, for example 1M/3F = 2M/6-8F

I hope this makes sense, and answers some of your questions.


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## dielikemoviestars (Oct 23, 2007)

Yep. Except I don't know if I'd go with 2m ever. That just seems like asking for the sub-dom to get beaten. 3m would spread the aggression of the dom. For instance, with a smaller mbuna like saulosi, I've kept 3m and a good harem of females in a 55g with no issues (for a long, long time, too). The subs would occasionally lose their coloration a little, but never took any hard beatings. On the other hand, with a fish like auratus, chipokae, kenyi... You'd never want to try that. Ever.

If your male dies, find another


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

If you stay away from the ones with killer instinct, you may find those rules don't fit. Choose the fish who don't chase to the death and run with the ones who only object to the other male when he tries to stay too close. Does one raise a group of fish from fry and automatically get rid of half the group when they mature? That would seem nonsense to me. I get young fish, stay away from the ones who kill and it works out fine. Some to stay away from are the auratus, and pseudotrophus. Look at the scientific names and you will find a hint of behavior in some. Placidochromis tells you they are not killers by nature. Stop and watch the fish in the tank at a shop and you can see how they might act in your tank. Many fish only want to survive and spawn. They don't feel they need to kill to do that.


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## Nina_b (Jan 3, 2011)

I don't know, PfunMo. Two yellow lab males can suddenly make a 55 feel very cramped if both are trying to spawn. Same with cobalt blue. Same with a great many. I think it can depend on your fish (your specific individuals, and not just the species), some are just more tolerant of others. In general, the advice goes 1 male 4 females because that is a conservative almost 80% sure bet that you will have a peaceful, viable aquarium. Of course, experimenting is what lead to this advice, and experimenting can be fun - provided of course you are ready to deal with the consequences of that experimentation.

Getting another male to take over usually means repeating the original process - get three juvies and raise them, remove banished males/unwanted females. I can't think of people who don't have all male tanks who have this problem though - fry are abundant, there will be males in your fry bunch (you can just raise some extras that you don't get rid of and there you go). If you don't want fry, why is the loss of your male a problem?


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