# Mel Auratus



## afr..cichlids (Feb 16, 2010)

Just wondering, I have added, what appears so far to be 2 female, and one male auratus in my 150 gal tank just yesterday, with my already 12 mbuna cichlids , 4 cobalts, 2 yellow labs, and various other zebra type cichlids, 3 red by red cichlids, 3 Syno Epurtus, and 2 plecos... So far I do not see much aggression with the auratuss. Will this change as they get older? As right now they are only 1.5 inches in length. That would be the size by the way of all of my other cichlids in my aquarium.

With a 150 gallon, can you tell me what to expect with the above mentioned cichlids I have in my tank.. Should I alter? Or will it be ok as it is.... Do not want to find dead cichlids.. especially with the reputation I am hearing and reading about the mel auratus....


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## Potus (Dec 11, 2009)

The auratus does not have a good reputation on this forum and if you search for it you can find that out yourself. Right now at 1.5 inches they are still young and small but what I can tell you is that the best guess is that these guys need a much higher female to male ratio than 2:1.

They are such cool looking fish but they can and often do just go nuts. I have not heard of a true success story where these fish are kept long term. The closest was in a tank where there were over 12 of them at all times and when this number dropped the fish turned on themselves and all died...

My best guess is that these guys will take over your tank once they have decided they are big enough. I would look for signs from the females first, torn fins etc. and if this happens i would get rid of them.


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## GoofBoy (Jul 3, 2007)

oldcatfish said:


> I know several people (besides myself) that have successfully kept M. Auratus, as well as other "hyper aggressive" species (Kenyi, etc.) long term with success.
> 
> The keys to doing it are the following:
> 
> ...


Best post ever on M auratus keeping. :lol: every time I read it. Just because I can't image spending that much tank/effort on them - and yes - Looonnnggg ago I had a M. auratus male kill off an entire tank one weekend while I was out of town. That kind of 'cured' me of trying to keep them.


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## afr..cichlids (Feb 16, 2010)

After much reading, and thought on this I am going to trade them back to the store by the weekend, hopefully they will be ok in my tank until then, given that it is a 150 gal, 48" x 30"x 24" deep, so I believe that I will be ok till then. Unless you guys think otherwise, let me know, as they are 1.5 " at the moment, and really do not show too much aggression to their tank mates, but only amongst themselves at the moment...


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

Either return them, or buy lots more. Then be prepared to remove aggressive and subdom males, as well as exiled fish (hiding near the surface behind filter inlet) and replace with new fish in order to keep numbers up. Then you should think about only 2 other species you want to keep as well, and work on getting the correct ratio of those as well.

In other words, either do what goofboy quoted or return them, or you're probably going to have problems once they gain another inch or so.


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## afr..cichlids (Feb 16, 2010)

Was wondering, do you guys have information on that?

Thanks so far for the replies.... It helps..


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## GoofBoy (Jul 3, 2007)

afr..cichlids said:


> Was wondering, do you guys have information on that?
> 
> Thanks so far for the replies.... It helps..


 :-? -not sure what you are asking here.


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## afr..cichlids (Feb 16, 2010)

How about keeping one female mel auratus? Is that ok? Or needs company...


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## GoofBoy (Jul 3, 2007)

afr..cichlids said:


> How about keeping one female mel auratus? Is that ok? Or needs company...


In general, singletons are a bad path to go down with mbuna. My experience has been singletons greatly add to the potential for an unstable tank.

I would think she should be fine, when (not if) she breeds you just let her spit in the tank.

The problem arises when you then add a single female Kenyi, then a single [pick your mbuna] because it is still working. Then...you add one fish too many and all h#ll breaks loose.

Good Luck.


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## scrubjay (Oct 25, 2009)

Then you have to worry about hybridization if you have a single female too.


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## afr..cichlids (Feb 16, 2010)

I will return them on the weekend, it would seem that I have already experienced one fatality in my tank due to these guys, it was a clown pleco, probably not a good combination anyways. I got the pleco because I have been having quite a bit of brown algae in my tank, it is rather new, and in its 4th week of cycling. Anything you guys can add to getting rid of this brown algae, or will it eventually turn green anyways?

Thanks a lot Goofboy, for your answers on my mel auratus. Wish now that I did more research before adding to my tank. I guess as an after thought that my leading hesitation of emptying them from the bag in to my tank was a good one, wish I had listened to my inner thoughts on these Mel auratus...


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## scrubjay (Oct 25, 2009)

You aren't the first to put an auratus in your tank only to return it to the fish shop a week later :wink:


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## GoofBoy (Jul 3, 2007)

afr..cichlids said:


> I will return them on the weekend, it would seem that I have already experienced one fatality in my tank due to these guys, it was a clown pleco, probably not a good combination anyways. I got the pleco because I have been having quite a bit of brown algae in *my tank, it is rather new, and in its 4th week of cycling*. Anything you guys can add to getting rid of this brown algae, or will it eventually turn green anyways?
> 
> Thanks a lot Goofboy, for your answers on my mel auratus. Wish now that I did more research before adding to my tank. I guess as an after thought that my leading hesitation of emptying them from the bag in to my tank was a good one, wish I had listened to my inner thoughts on these Mel auratus...


I would watch my tank and measure ammonia and nitrites very closely over the next month or even pick up a bottle of the Bio-spira instant cycle stuff (or Dr. Tim's - Site sponsor plug) - if you didn't cycle the tank before putting fish in I would try to address that before putting any other fish in the tank.

Once you know you are cycled (ammonia and nitrites read 0 and nitrates are above your tap water my a measurable amount) then I would look at upping the Cobalt and Yellow Lab count to around 8 - you will see far more interesting behavior out of larger groups and with the Cobalts you may need to weed a few extra males out to get a good male:female ratio.

I would serious assess what zebras I have and what that may mean to long term stability.

And then look into what you may want to add to those groups.

The goal is to get past 6-9 months - that is usually when things blow up if your stocking choices were poor.

A successful tank is generally considered 2 years with the same fish around here. And if your stocking choices are good and your water/tank maintenance habits are good you should have a very good chance at seeing that kind of success and the pride/joy that goes with it.

Good Luck.


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