# gold mbuna or what?



## bobbo268 (Jul 5, 2013)

Was told to post a pic here to find out exactly what it is, possibly (and most likely) an auratus. It is currently in a 29gallon with 1 blue kenyi and yellow lab (both i believe may be female). They are around 1.25" 1.5" long. For the past week and a half they have gotten along flawlessly..... is this going to end soon?? How long until the battle royal? Or is it possible they live in harmony?


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## mbuna17 (Aug 1, 2011)

Melanochromis chipokae.


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## DLLNP (Jul 9, 2013)

The first picture is definitely a Melanochromis auratus. I assume you plan on moving all 3 of those fish to a larger tank? If that IS the case than you should be ok in terms of aggression if you plan to add more fish of course! If you plan to leave them in the 29gal things probably won't turn out too well....

Dillon


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## bobbo268 (Jul 5, 2013)

no larger tank here. At least not anytime soon. The wife is limiting me to the 29 gallon, although I snuck a 2.5 gallon into my daughters room yesterday while the wife was at work and put 2 jack dempsey's in it. (just kidding on that last part).

Well since you put "probably" i'm assuming there's a small chance. Sort of. At what age(size) do these fish start to develop their territorial issues? I had a demosoni in there with the lab (same size) and he was a mother******, i took him back to the store, should have done more research on that little devil. But now these 3 are best of friends, swim side by side, and chase a few times, but mostly swimming within 6 inches of eachother.... is it possible that they will grow used to eachother, or will they soon realize there are no friends under the sea?


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## bobbo268 (Jul 5, 2013)

not knowing what a chipokae was before, i googled that and the auratus. Judging by the tail colors, I would have to say its chipokae. You guys know more than me, but the auratus has yellow on the bottom half and spots on the top half. That is of course assuming this is not a hybrid of something... just sharing my google findings


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## DLLNP (Jul 9, 2013)

hahah to the jack dempsey joke! :lol:

You have to convince her what a beautiful piece of future an aquarium can be!! :thumb:

But in the meantime you should be ok for awhile, I had a few different mbuna cichlids in a 33gal for about 6-7 months (or 2-3") and had no issues. Having said that I didn't have any overly aggressive species in it such as a kenyi. I'm not too sure when territorial issues begin to develop but as you saw with you demosoni experience it can start at a fairly young age. Normally over stocking a tank can help disperse aggression if it becomes an issue but I'm not sure if I would recommend over stocking a 29 gal... hopefully someone else will chime in and help us out!!


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## bobbo268 (Jul 5, 2013)

I was hoping to just have 3 different cichlids ( a wide range of colors) and hope that they could make it work. I was recommended ps saulosi but after I started this "experiment". I will do that if this backfires, but hoping someone will chime in with a miracle story of my exact fish living long happy lives together in perfect harmony...... hopefully i won't be waiting too long for this story.....


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## nmcichlid-aholic (Mar 23, 2011)

bobbo268 said:


> I was hoping to just have 3 different cichlids ( a wide range of colors) and hope that they could make it work. I was recommended ps saulosi but after I started this "experiment". I will do that if this backfires, but hoping someone will chime in with a miracle story of my exact fish living long happy lives together in perfect harmony...... hopefully i won't be waiting too long for this story.....


I wouldn't hold your breath. My prediction is that the Melanochromis (auratus or chipokae - it doesn't really matter) will kill the other 2 first, unless of course the kenyi is a male - then he might snap first. I would expect things to go south when they reach 6-8 months old. The only way I see this possibly working long term (10-12 months or more), is if you've ended up with all females. If one turns out to be male, and especially if more than one is male, the territorial aggression caused by breeding behavior will lead to disaster in a tank too small for the fish to get away from each other. Of course, the females could fight to the death, too. Kenyi and auratus are hard to keep in a tank twice this size. You're talking about fish that grow to 5 or 6" and are heavy bodied - not much room for them in a 30"x12" tank. But I doubt they'll live that long. Sorry!


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## bobbo268 (Jul 5, 2013)

nmcichlid-aholic said:


> The only way I see this possibly working long term (10-12 months or more), is if you've ended up with all females. If one turns out to be male, and especially if more than one is male, the territorial aggression caused by breeding behavior will lead to disaster in a tank too small for the fish to get away from each other.


If the kenyi and chipoake have changed their colors/or lack there of, at this point i would assume they are females. And the lack of black on anything other than the top fin of the lab leads me to believe she is a female as well...... so maybe a chance they are all females...


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

I agree that the first two pictures show a Chipoake. The face and body shape match.

Your fish are too small to be going through their color change. Save yourself the headache and move them onto greener pastures/much larger tank.

The ps. saulosi is something that could work in your tank.


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## nmcichlid-aholic (Mar 23, 2011)

Iggy Newcastle said:


> Your fish are too small to be going through their color change. Save yourself the headache and move them onto greener pastures/much larger tank.


Agreed - They Won't Change Color Until They Are Around 2.5" Or So.


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## bobbo268 (Jul 5, 2013)

so at 1.5" long, how old are these fish?


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## brinkles (Jan 30, 2011)

Maybe 6 months old, but It's hard to guess. They'll probably be fine for a few more months, but I'd be proactive.


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## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

I had a female auratus years ago and she killed anything that was with her. I even put her in with my piranha when she beat my favorite fish to near death. The piranha couldnt catch it and it tore scales off of their bellies so I gave it away with a full tank setup.


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## cook (Jul 22, 2013)

doing some proper research before getting cichlids in the first place would've helped. i read every day for a solid two weeks before i got any, and even then i made sure to do it properly.

labs and kenyi's don't mix well. you want labs and acei's or kenyi and bumblebee's, also in minimum groups of 3f-1m.

29 gallon is way to small like people said already.

get a bigger tank, or return the cichlids and stock you're 29 gallon properly.


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## bobbo268 (Jul 5, 2013)

Yea, i'll man up and admit i didn't do enough research. I took the kenyi in replacement because i had one with a full tank of tropicals years ago and they left eachother alone for a very long time.... until the tank shattered... so pardon my hesitance at a larger tank. Again, so far so good. I could have fully stocked it with enemies but luckily for me, and the fish, its only 3. When I start to see issues, i'll get em' out. I've been told about saulosi's and may go that route should things not pan out and keep it single species. I see people posting about stocking small tanks with 20 cichlids wondering if its too many... im at least glad i had enough common sense to not do that, but you're right, i should have read more. Sorry Cook. Sorry fish.


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## bobbo268 (Jul 5, 2013)

well i thought i'd pop in for an update. The chipokae had to go (gave to a friend that basically has a 55 gallon full of cichlids that other people get rid of), he was the 3rd wheel. The yellow lab (male) and kenyi (most likely female) are getting along great so far, the lab is doing his twitching every now and then to get her attention. I also have a juvenile bristlenose pleco and 7 bloodfin tetras, and suprisingly the cichlids leave the tetras alone. I tried a handful of neon tetras because they were on sale for $4 for 5 of them, and turns out, the lab appreciated the change in his diet haha, it was amazing to me how fast he at them, but, the tetras are fine, that suprises me as well, but either its because they have been tank mates since day one, or because the cichlids are waiting till they get a little bigger for a better feast. either way, all is calm, all is well, and we shall see how the future plays out.


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## bobbo268 (Jul 5, 2013)




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## chopsteeks (Jul 23, 2013)

brinkles said:


> Maybe 6 months old, but It's hard to guess. They'll probably be fine for a few more months, but I'd be proactive.


Hope so otherwise you will be a contributor to this thread ---- > viewtopic.php?f=9&t=282210

Hahahaha !!


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