# Tank mates for a maingano - lots of pics



## FlyPenFly (Dec 5, 2012)

I tried keeping 3 infant cichlids in a 20 gallon tank. It did not go well. The blue maingano nipped on the orange cichlid and the silver cichlid is just hiding by the filter and heaters trying to stay out of sight.

I plan on giving the orange one away and returning the silver one. I plan on keeping the Maingano.

I plan on upgrading the tank. Can the Maingano kept with anything else in a 50 gallon long tank?


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

Most would recommend maingano in a 48" 75 gallon with 1:7.


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## FlyPenFly (Dec 5, 2012)

1:7 male to female?


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

Yes


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## FlyPenFly (Dec 5, 2012)

Wow. I thought most cichlids were 1:3 or 1:4.

Is this the most aggressive Malawi?


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

Not the most aggressive but pretty aggressive.


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## FlyPenFly (Dec 5, 2012)

Okay any tips on how to find 6 females?

Do they have to be maingano females or just malawi females?

Is a 50 gallon long tank big enough for them?


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

You just have to buy a bunch and hope for the best. Females should be maingano.
What are the dimensions of the tank?


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## FlyPenFly (Dec 5, 2012)

I haven't purchased it yet but it will be

48 x 18 x 13

I plan to get an acrylic tank from glasscages.


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

Okay, is the 18 the height or the width?


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## FlyPenFly (Dec 5, 2012)

I believe it's length x width x height.


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

According to the glasscages site that tank is 50G long tank so same footprint and width as a 75G but not as tall. I have my Maingano's in a 75G and housed with Cynotilapia Zebroides Nkhata Bay "yellow blaze". They do really well with one another but there is not alot of color variety in the tank (you can look at my signature video of the Maingano/Cyno tank to see them).

As others have said, if you want the Mainganos you should boost your count of them by ordering/purchasing a group of say 10 juvies with the thought that in the future you may have to rehome some of them if you end up with too many dominate males. I started with eleven juvies and now have 10 of those original fish (lost one to various tank changes). I also have a tank full of babies that are growing up. Everyone seems happy and no one hangs at the top or corners of the tanks although my dominant male can own over half the tank when he wants to.

I'm not good at stocking so I'll leave it up to others to answer if you could have another species in the tank with the Mainganos given you are getting the 50G long. If you got the 75G tank you could definately house another group with them but I'm uncertain how much difference the shorter tank will make (maybe none and another group would still be ok).

Anyway, I love my Maingano's and I don't think they are overly aggressive as some of my other cichlids are much nastier than them (I have a dragon's blood that is a killer). Good luck with them and enjoy!


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## FlyPenFly (Dec 5, 2012)

I'm starting to wonder if perhaps if I'm not better off returning him and going with some smaller cichlids from reservestockcichlids.

If I were to keep maingano, would my best option for a 50 gallon tank just be getting like 6 more of them and hope for the best?


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Here's an updated video of my guys I did today...






as you can see these guys are great in a tank...active and fun to watch but a dwarf group would work too. Just depends on what you want to do. As for the number to get I would still recommend going with at least 10 to start so that hopefully when you are all said and done your ratios will be good and you will have enough females to allow aggression to spread out.


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## Michael_M (May 31, 2012)

I don't think maingano are as aggressive as their reputation, not in my experience with them anyway.

Since this is a 48 tank I see no reason why maingano shouldn't work. You stock for the footprint. I would look at 2 other species as tank mates.

Perhaps yellow labs, for a bright yellow colour and they get along with pretty much all mbuna as well as rusties which would bring orange/purple into the tank.


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## FlyPenFly (Dec 5, 2012)

Okay so the plan is, 50 gallon long tank, add 6 or 7 more maingano or maybe 3 or 4 maingano and a mix of yellow labs?


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## jonathantc08 (Nov 16, 2012)

where did you get your fish? I just stocked 32 fish in a 90 gallon with Maingano, Red Zebra, Blue Cobalt And some others. about the same size as yours


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## FlyPenFly (Dec 5, 2012)

Wow. 32 fish?

I got him at my local petco


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Some people have been having trouble with maingano in the 48x12 tanks, but things seem to work better in the 48x18 tanks.

I'd do 1m:7f maingano and 1m:4f yellow labs if you want to try it.

In a 90G I'd want to end up with 20 fish (considering the species listed) after removing extra males to fine-tune the ratios. jonathantc08, don't save metriaclima fry.


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## FlyPenFly (Dec 5, 2012)

How do you identify the males vs females later on?

Also, what do you do with the excess males?


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## Michael_M (May 31, 2012)

With species like maingano and yellow labs, behaviour is a good indicator once you get the hang of it.

Generally your dominate males will be obvious and potentially a sub dom or two however additional males can be difficult to ID. The give away for females is of course them having a mouthful of eggs. A good method of finding all the males is to move your dominate males to another tank so that sub-dom ones take their place. You repeat this process till no dominate males appear, then you can keep the nicest male and rehome the rest.

Excess males can be returned to LFS, sold to hobbyists, or given away. If the fish are reasonable quality you should have no trouble getting rid of them.


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## master chi (Jan 3, 2010)

Michael_M said:


> I don't think maingano are as aggressive as their reputation, not in my experience with them anyway.
> 
> Since this is a 48 tank I see no reason why maingano shouldn't work. You stock for the footprint. I would look at 2 other species as tank mates.
> 
> Perhaps yellow labs, for a bright yellow colour and they get along with pretty much all mbuna as well as rusties which would bring orange/purple into the tank.


That would be a lovely tank!


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## car0linab0y (Aug 10, 2009)

Michael_M said:


> With species like maingano and yellow labs, behaviour is a good indicator once you get the hang of it.
> 
> Generally your dominate males will be obvious and potentially a sub dom or two however additional males can be difficult to ID. The give away for females is of course them having a mouthful of eggs. A good method of finding all the males is to move your dominate males to another tank so that sub-dom ones take their place. You repeat this process till no dominate males appear, then you can keep the nicest male and rehome the rest.
> 
> Excess males can be returned to LFS, sold to hobbyists, or given away. If the fish are reasonable quality you should have no trouble getting rid of them.


A very good method of sexing, but not 100% guaranteed. With Demasoni I've twice had what acted and colored up like a male end up holding.


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## Yael (Nov 25, 2012)

I too have had females color up as males when there are no males in a tank (burtoni), but generally not as bright and size is a good indication in some species.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

Just curious as to how to distinguish this from a johanni? Is it possible the small orange mbuna on pg.1 is the female/juvie?


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## Michael_M (May 31, 2012)

It's the only method you can use till they are big enough to vent or they start holding. Additionally I find sub-dom males to be more likely to sustain minor injuries and this can help with ID's.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

BC in SK said:


> Just curious as to how to distinguish this from a johanni? Is it possible the small orange mbuna on pg.1 is the female/juvie?


Anybody care to explain or there is no difference in markings, coloration,mouth, head shape, bodyshape ect. between a male johanni and mainago??


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## GoofBoy (Jul 3, 2007)

BC in SK said:


> BC in SK said:
> 
> 
> > Just curious as to how to distinguish this from a johanni? Is it possible the small orange mbuna on pg.1 is the female/juvie?
> ...


The adult male Pseudotropheus johannii and Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos are virtually impossible to tell apart.

Adult Female and all juvie Pseudotropheus johannii are orange.

All male and female Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos are blue with stripes from just over a half inch.

Pseudotropheus johannii have a reputation of being more aggressive than the Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos.

I have not kept Pseudotropheus johannii.

As a data point for this thread.

I do have Ps. cyaneorhabdos - 1M:4F plus a bunch of fry in a 40Br of Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos.

I started with 8 juvies in a standard 75. I kept taking out the most aggressive Ps. cyaneorhabdos male as he started getting fish pinned up by the heaters and/or claiming too much floor space. After the three most aggressive males were taken out of the tank, I ended up with a reasonably calm male and 4 girls.

They got along fine in the 75 so I decided to try them in a 40Br, well, because I have the tanks and thought I would try it.

The 40Br was not working with rocks continuously across the tank, so I decided to make 2 distinct rock piles, one at each end of the tank. Once I did that the male claimed one, and the females were pretty much free to go anywhere they wanted.

The group has continued breeding in the 40Br and I now have fry that are close to an inch plus smaller fry from other broods in there with the adults. I have not tried to save fry, I just seem to be getting 4-6 survivors per brood.

I have added rock to connect the piles for the young fish and the male continues to claim his spot/area.

From the behavior I can pretty much pick out the male 1in fry and tell the ones that will not/wouldn't work in the 40Br setup as they are already being very territorial.

I would not recommend trying this at home without the ability to move them easily between tanks as needed.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

GoofBoy said:


> The adult male Pseudotropheus johannii and Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos are virtually impossible to tell apart.


Thanks Goofboy for the respeonse...exactly what i thought. So basically unless we know the fish is a female with certainty, or purchase these fishes in a larger group......no real way of knowing if the fish is a maingano or a male johanni! IMO, probably not the best idea to purchase a group of maingano and breed with this fish, until we actually know that it is a maingano rather then a johanni.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

While it is recommended to have multiple females for each male in a breeding setup, there is no reason why you can't just have single males of a number of species, to create a colourful community. I also haven't found cyaneorhabdos to be as aggressive as many seem to either. They are kind of mid level in aggression in my experiences.


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