# Cherry Red Zebra



## bmwyatt (Oct 21, 2010)

I was just wondering how aggressive this fish is? We have just one in our tank, and he in with a Demasoni, 3 Saulosi, 3 Crimsons, 1 Red Empress, 2 Acei, 2 yellow labs, 1 Lions Cove Polit, and 2 Rustys.


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## soulpride (Aug 30, 2009)

bmwyatt said:


> I was just wondering how aggressive this fish is? We have just one in our tank, and he in with a Demasoni, 3 Saulosi, 3 Crimsons, 1 Red Empress, 2 Acei, 2 yellow labs, 1 Lions Cove Polit, and 2 Rustys.


he will cross breed with the lab. what tank size in measurement and gallon? the measurement is more important. the red empress is very aggressive fish. you will need more dem. labs, acei, rusty and polit. remove the cromsons to their own tank. they not good with the red empress due to the aggressive of the red empress.


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

Red Zebras can get very aggressive.

How big is your tank?


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## toume (Oct 7, 2010)

The polit is also a pretty aggressive fish, isn't it?

In comparison, I think the dem and polit are more aggressive than zebras, but they're def. more so than the labs, acei, and rusties.

If you're seeing aggression, it's probably because you have so many different species in one tank with the incorrect ratio of male to female.

But, we'll wait for dimensions


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## PGA material (Apr 3, 2003)

IMO the red zebras will be the most aggresive in that tank. I have a few in a hap tank that were suppose to be food when they were fry. They are all grown up now, and dominating mature haps like venustus, moorri, ob peacocks, blue haps. The red zebras push some of these brusers around! The only fish I have kept that was more agresive was crabros, but even the crabros were only aggressive to each other the red zebras go after everyone!


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## toume (Oct 7, 2010)

You may be right--Dems might only go after each other.

Zebras will push anyone around. However, in my tank, my zebra is top fish, but it doesn't chase or really do anything. The labs didn't put up a fight--just gave in. However, my kenyi were beaties--one started to turn color, and then I watched it go nuts throughout the day--chasing, etc.

I thought it would calm down. :roll: Killed two fish overnight. 
My zebras stood up to it, but still got some nipped fins.

So, IME zebras aren't peaceful, but they aren't among the most aggressive Mbuna (I save that for Crabros, elongatus, auratus, and kenyi). However, red zebras often hybridize (with labs), and that can affect the behavior. Also, every fish has its own personality. Some are more aggressive than others--it depends on your tank size, fish species kept with it, and set up.

I don't foresee any unmanageable problems as long as its pure.


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## Glaneon (Sep 27, 2010)

PGA, I've never heard of Zebras being overtly aggressive. They'll push - and they're not play-nice-nice like Labs, Rusties & Acei, but they're no Elongatus/Kenyi/Demasoni/Auratus from everything I've read.

Haps & peacocks don't stand up to mbuna as a rule, so I guess, yeah, a Red Zebra would be more aggressive than them.


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## PGA material (Apr 3, 2003)

Glaneon said:


> PGA, I've never heard of Zebras being overtly aggressive. They'll push - and they're not play-nice-nice like Labs, Rusties & Acei, but they're no Elongatus/Kenyi/Demasoni/Auratus from everything I've read.
> 
> Haps & peacocks don't stand up to mbuna as a rule, so I guess, yeah, a Red Zebra would be more aggressive than them.


 They can be and I didnt read it *** owned them for 15 years. All mbuna are or can be aggressive, *** found it can be settled down with properaquascape male to female ratio and over crowding over filtering, just my experience.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Red zebras (metriaclima estherae) stand up to my demasoni. Just because you don't need 7 females for a male does not mean they are not aggressive.

But they are likely to be successful with 1m:4f so more manageable than some other aggressive fish.

Back to OPs post. Got tired of waiting for dimensions, LOL. Let's say these fish are in a 72" x 18" tank. I would make these changes.

1 Demasoni, 
3 Saulosi, 
3 Crimsons, 
1 Red Empress, 
2 Acei, 
2 yellow labs, 
1 Lions Cove Polit, 
2 Rustys

I would either go all male and remove the duplicates, or choose 5 species and add females. Not sure what the Crimsons are. I'd remove the empress as "not-a-fit" with mbuna.

If going with mixed genders, I'd choose one with blue-bars (either demasoni or saulosi) and choose one between yellow labs and red zebra (metriaclima estherae) to avoid cross breeding.

I would not have a concern with the metriaclima estherae being too aggressive for the other fish, except the empress. The demasoni and others are already too aggressive for the empress anyway.


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