# Melanochromis johanni



## camxza2 (Sep 4, 2013)

My 2 electric blue johannis are just circling each other in one part of the aquarium.

Is this a sign of mating/breeding.


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## Austinite (Jul 27, 2013)

How many do you have total? And what is the ratio of males/female?


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

look up some videos of mbuna breeding - there is a very distinct type of circling which is slower, always right at the substrate or a rock, and involves the female picking up eggs about every full turn.
Likely, your fish are fighting - which is a much faster circling and can happen everywhere.


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## camxza2 (Sep 4, 2013)

Austinite said:


> How many do you have total? And what is the ratio of males/female?


I have 2 electric blue johannis, 2 melanochromis auratus, and 1 electric blue maingano.

The one johanni is very gray with a little bit of blue. So i'm guessing its a female.


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## camxza2 (Sep 4, 2013)

Kanorin said:


> look up some videos of mbuna breeding - there is a very distinct type of circling which is slower, always right at the substrate or a rock, and involves the female picking up eggs about every full turn.
> Likely, your fish are fighting - which is a much faster circling and can happen everywhere.


I have seen the type of slower circling that your talking about, but its not that. It is a fast pace like i said but they do it slow sometimes. They might be fighting but when they are close to each other they don't chase each other.


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## amcvettec (May 11, 2012)

It's probably some aggression/dominance showing.

Mbuna are harem breeders and that lone female will likely be killed very shortly if there is already aggression starting. Also having Johanni/Maingano in the same tank can lead to hybridization especially because they look similar. I advise you to rethink your stocking before you start to have dying fish.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Female johanni are all yellow/orange. How big are they? All johanni start out yellow/orange. Males change color as they mature. Maybe you just have 3 maingano.

In any case, you have auratus in the same tank, and will continue to have problems with all horizontal striped fish. What size is this tank?


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## Austinite (Jul 27, 2013)

Like the other posters said, you need to make some changes in your tank as far as stocking before fish start getting killed. Are these fish new to your tank? How long have you had them?

Any one species will need a larger group to minimize aggression and the typical male/female ratio is 1M:4F, but sometimes it is higher (1M:7F) with very aggressive fish, like the auratus. Having only a 2# in one species is not enough which is why you are seeing the beginnings of aggression.

Then there's the species that you are combining. I don't have experience with auratus but have read that they are one of the most aggressive mbuna. Not sure who they are compatible with.

The johanni & maingano are very similar in appearance, maybe you should choose one of those species, instead of having both, then get more of the kind that you choose.


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## camxza2 (Sep 4, 2013)

Iggy Newcastle said:


> Female johanni are all yellow/orange. How big are they? All johanni start out yellow/orange. Males change color as they mature. Maybe you just have 3 maingano.
> 
> In any case, you have auratus in the same tank, and will continue to have problems with all horizontal striped fish. What size is this tank?


The tank is 70 gallons.


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## camxza2 (Sep 4, 2013)

Austinite said:


> Like the other posters said, you need to make some changes in your tank as far as stocking before fish start getting killed. Are these fish new to your tank? How long have you had them?
> 
> Any one species will need a larger group to minimize aggression and the typical male/female ratio is 1M:4F, but sometimes it is higher (1M:7F) with very aggressive fish, like the auratus. Having only a 2# in one species is not enough which is why you are seeing the beginnings of aggression.
> 
> ...


The fish are about a week old, they are new.


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## camxza2 (Sep 4, 2013)

Iggy Newcastle said:


> Female johanni are all yellow/orange. How big are they? All johanni start out yellow/orange. Males change color as they mature. Maybe you just have 3 maingano.
> 
> In any case, you have auratus in the same tank, and will continue to have problems with all horizontal striped fish. What size is this tank?


The other fish don't bother the auratus, and the auratus don't bother the other fish they both keep to themselves.

The only fish that are chasing and interacting with each other are the maingano and the 2 johanni.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

My bad... what are the tank dimensions?

If the 'johanni' are still around 1.5-2" and not yellow or showing some form of yellow coloring, then they are Ps. cyaneorhabdos. So what length are your fish?

All juvenile fish will 'get along' just fine. Once they start to reach sexual maturity and put on some size, the aggression will begin to show. Which is probably what you are witnessing in it's early stages.


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## camxza2 (Sep 4, 2013)

Iggy Newcastle said:


> My bad... what are the tank dimensions?
> 
> If the 'johanni' are still around 1.5-2" and not yellow or showing some form of yellow coloring, then they are Ps. cyaneorhabdos. So what length are your fish?
> 
> All juvenile fish will 'get along' just fine. Once they start to reach sexual maturity and put on some size, the aggression will begin to show. Which is probably what you are witnessing in it's early stages.


The dimensions are - 48" x 18" x 21"

And for the fish all of them are about 1.5"


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Sounds like all maingano, but the one should not be grey... Can you post a picture?

Since you have the footprint of a 75 gallon, I'd buy a dozen maingano, and then pick out another 2 or 3 species that interest you. I would choose mbuna that are considered mild mannered like a cynotilapia, labidochromis, etc. And I would move the auratus on to another home. You don't want to keep species together that look like one another. They'll view eachother as competition, can cross breed and more likely to flat out kill each other.

Some ideas.... http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_75g.php


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## camxza2 (Sep 4, 2013)

Iggy Newcastle said:


> Sounds like all maingano, but the one should not be grey... Can you post a picture?
> 
> Since you have the footprint of a 75 gallon, I'd buy a dozen maingano, and then pick out another 2 or 3 species that interest you. I would choose mbuna that are considered mild mannered like a cynotilapia, labidochromis, etc. And I would move the auratus on to another home. You don't want to keep species together that look like one another. They'll view eachother as competition, can cross breed and more likely to flat out kill each other.
> 
> Some ideas.... http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_75g.php


ill try to post a picture but my goal was to have a melanochromis tank of different species.

Is crossbreeding a bad thing? becasue i know someone that actually had a johanni and an labidochromis electric yellow breed together. i saw the process and everything the fish turned out to be very cool-looking for 2 different species.


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## camxza2 (Sep 4, 2013)

Iggy Newcastle said:


> Sounds like all maingano, but the one should not be grey... Can you post a picture?
> 
> Since you have the footprint of a 75 gallon, I'd buy a dozen maingano, and then pick out another 2 or 3 species that interest you. I would choose mbuna that are considered mild mannered like a cynotilapia, labidochromis, etc. And I would move the auratus on to another home. You don't want to keep species together that look like one another. They'll view eachother as competition, can cross breed and more likely to flat out kill each other.
> 
> Some ideas.... http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_75g.php


This isn't a picture i took, but its a picture i found that looks exactly like the fish i have thats grey.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y79/Ta ... habdos.jpg

I will try to get my own picture though.


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## camxza2 (Sep 4, 2013)

Iggy Newcastle said:


> Sounds like all maingano, but the one should not be grey... Can you post a picture?
> 
> Since you have the footprint of a 75 gallon, I'd buy a dozen maingano, and then pick out another 2 or 3 species that interest you. I would choose mbuna that are considered mild mannered like a cynotilapia, labidochromis, etc. And I would move the auratus on to another home. You don't want to keep species together that look like one another. They'll view eachother as competition, can cross breed and more likely to flat out kill each other.
> 
> Some ideas.... http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_75g.php


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

> Is crossbreeding a bad thing?


Yes. No reason to create fish when there are so many beautiful, naturally occurring species.

Let's say I create some hybrid. Then I give away some fry, here and there. Then these fish mature. Then these fish breed again, creating more hybrids. Then some end back at an LFS. Then someone else has some unpredictable, hybrid fish. When they do research on it, they come here and realize what they have.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

The pic you posted sure looks like a young maingano.

Here is a pic of Melanochromis johanni: 









The bottom fish is possibly a transforming male. Note the faint striping. Females and all young fish look yellow, so if you're little dudes are not, then they're Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos 'Maingano'


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## camxza2 (Sep 4, 2013)

Iggy Newcastle said:


> The pic you posted sure looks like a young maingano.
> 
> Here is a pic of Melanochromis johanni:
> 
> ...


Could the pictue i posted possibly be a female maingano then?


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

Yes. Or a subdominant male.


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## camxza2 (Sep 4, 2013)

Kanorin said:


> Yes. Or a subdominant male.


Can short pelvic fins classify as a female?


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Your fish are too young to accurately sex.


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