# The All-Male Mbuna thread!



## esparzar1 (Jun 14, 2009)

There have been several threads about all-male mbuna tanks so I figured we could have one thread just about it! Let's see your pictures/videos and stocklist (I know they are quite of few of you out there)! Keep this thread going for anyone who just wants to talk about all-male mbuna tanks! Coming from personal experience, I love my tank and wouldn't want it any other way! To each their own but I wouldn't go back or change anything that I've done. It's always fun just to see other peoples tanks/stocklist and videos! I guess I'll start!

Video taken about 2 months ago (some changes to my tank since then but, have not updated them on a video yet)






My current stocklist is as follows

Cyno. Afra "Likoma" (1.75 inch) a little unsure if he's a male but colors are indicating so!
Lab Caereleus (5 inch) he's a big boy and fiesty for a YL
Lab SRT Kimpuma (3 inch) very subdominate male and only rarely shows his great colors
Met. Callainos (5 inch) 2nd in command 
Met. Greshakei (6+ inch) my dominate king of the tank
Met. Lobardoi (1.5 inch) still unsure if male, turning yellow but to small to tell
Ps. Zebra Long Pelvic Ã¢â‚¬Å"MdokaÃ¢â‚¬Â


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

You know I'm good for some all male mbuna talk!

My stocklist:

55g All male mbuna (in order from largest to smallest w/ estimated size)

*Labeotropheus fuelleborni (Katale) ~5.75"
*Labidochromis sp. "Hongi" ~4.25" 
*Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei" (Ngara) ~4"
*Pseudotropheus saulosi ~4"
*Cynotilapia sp. "hara" ~3.5"
*Metriaclima sp. "Msobo" ~3.25"
*Iodotropheus sprengera, ~3.25"
*Cynotilapia afra (Likoma) ~2.75"

All of the fish were tank raised except the fuelleborni (wild caught) and the afra (f1).

Here is the only full tank shot I have right now:


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## esparzar1 (Jun 14, 2009)

Sweet! I absolutly love your tank layout. I kinda cheated and stole your idea....lol. I got rid of a lot of my rocks to make the fish really "pop". The problem is my 2 Emperor 400's really stick out like a sore thumb. Oh well, what can ya do. Can't wait to get my 2 new males tomorrow. Will update pics/video of tank once everyone is settled in.


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## esparzar1 (Jun 14, 2009)

So, I feel like a complete idiot.  I mean a big idiot.   

So, here is the storyÃ¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦I bought 6 Lab. Hongi SRT from a friend about 1 Ã‚Â½ years ago. Well, when I bought them they were very tiny (maybe Ã‚Â½ inch) anyways, I added them to a fry tank that I already had some fry in. These established fry were much bigger than my new Hongi fry and ending up killing/eating all but one Hongi (the lone one I have left), rookie mistake, I lived and learned (or so I thought). Well, about 6 months pass and I decided to put this Hongi in to my established male Mbuna tank. Now this was about 1 year ago, since then the Hongi has had no trouble getting along with the other tank mates. It showed some nice dominate colors off and on but mainly was in a subdominant male dress, IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢d say 90% of the time. Well, today my Yellow Lab is freakin out over the Hongi and low and behold he starts stirring up trouble with the other males and the Hongi. (this is where it gets good)Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦.The Hongi and Yellow Lab start mating!?!?!?!? Wow, to my shock the Hongi is indeed a female.  I was never an expert at venting by any means. But, now it all makes sense. The Hongi was growing much slower than most of my other males (only about 3 inch) and there is a now a logical reason the Hongi was looking like a female and not coloring up!!!! I figured since there was no aggression towards her for a year, I assumed it was just a subdom male. But we all know what happens when you assumeÃ¢â‚¬Â¦.lol. I watched them today and obviously this is her first time spawning. She seems to be having a bit of trouble knowing exactly what to do. I recorded them for about 1 min to show them attempting to spawn. I will post the video later on today when I have time! I have since then taken her out and put her in a quarantine tank 
Luckily, my local fish club is having an auction next month so I should be able to find a good home for her. Crazy stuff!


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

If the hongi isnt holding eggs it may still be a male. I've seen some pretty odd behaviour from two males before.

If it is a female I'm kind of surpised she hasn't held yet. Every female I have had in the male tank would start holding rather quickly.

This is all part of the all male tanks though. Good news your getting more males tommorow to take the spot of the hongi. I wish I still had my perlmutt I would of sent it to you. He didnt get along with my hongi at all but would of been good for your tank.

To tell you the truth some days I think my afra is a female. Its the lowest in command and the smallest so I think its just a sub dom but I'm not 100% on it. Shows some really nice color on occasion but for the most part stays rather drab.


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## esparzar1 (Jun 14, 2009)

hmmmm...well, I'm at work right now but I'll upload a video that I have to show what I mean when I get home. They were circling and shaking but the Hongi wasn't laying eggs.....It sure as heck looked like they were trying to spawn and the YL and Met. Greshakei were going crazy over the Hongi.....I dunno. Maybe I'll, re-introduce the Hongi tomorrow with the other two fish. It just seems so strange to see the mating behavior after all this time....I'm completly stumped


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## esparzar1 (Jun 14, 2009)

So, I tried something interesting with the Hongi. I put him/her into the 29 gal Saulosi colony tank. The Saulosi are about equal in size to the Hongi and there are 4 adults 1M/3F in the tank. Well, that Hongi took that tank like nothing. I mean it "owned" the tank fast. So, I'm really stumped on what sex this Hongi is. I'm gonna try and put it back in to my main tank with the other two that I'm gonna add and see what happens......I'm sooo stumped :-?


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

That wouldn't surpirse me either way that a male or female hongi would own the saulosi. Did the fish change colors when it was in the saulosi tank.

Maybe you could vent it again. If it is female and has been trying to breed it might be easier to vent then when you first tried.


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## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

It could be a male. I added a Taiwan Reef male to my all male tank last week and my alpha Makonde hap started doing what looked liked a mating dance but everyone said it was a dominance thing. I tend to agree because it happened earlier this year when I added my Blue Neon male back in the main tank after having to quarantine him for a month. He did the mating dance to several of my other male fish.

Here the Makonde and the Taiwan Reef:


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## esparzar1 (Jun 14, 2009)

Well, it's official.....the Hongi is a female. I put her back in today just to see what would happen....and literally within seconds the Yellow Lab and Hongi when in to full spawning mode. Without a doubt a female, I have since then put her in a tank all by her lonesome 

On a side note, my new fish arrived looking great! :dancing: 
The Cyno jalo reef yellow top is absolutely gorgeous!!!!!! 
The Flavus is just barely starting to show some color but I don't doubt any of the selection from DRF. My friend and I ordered together and he ordered some of the white labs (nhkata bay) and even at 1.5 inches they are stunning! Pictures to come tonight!


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

Sorry about the hongi but awsome to hear your new fish look good. I want to see some pics of the jalo. I had a flavus once and he was beautiful. I wish I never got rid of him.


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## esparzar1 (Jun 14, 2009)

Alright, first my disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form approve of the selling or breeding of hybrids. With that being said, sometimes it does happen. So, if you have been following this thread, you would know that my male YL mated with my Hongi SRT. Well, I was just curious to see what one of these might look like so I googeld it! Check out this fish! It's amazing looking  . If, my females conintues to hold, I'm going to keep a male if they turn out like this. I have no intention of selling them but the look is just too cool. Just thought I'd share this with ya'll. It's a great looking fish.....I guess I'm trying to turn something good outta this tragady....lol
http://www.eastcoastaquariumsociety.ca/ ... 7f4815156a


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

It does look cool but your still going to have a lot of hybrid fish to worry about. They will be rather large before you could tell the sex and then you would have several 2-3" extra hybrids to deal with.


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## esparzar1 (Jun 14, 2009)

ya I don't know what I'm gonna do. Probably just let nature takes its course.

Back to the all-male tanks. I've uploaded a video of my new Cyno Jalo reef....I love this little guy. He's a bit beat up in the video b/c he's one of the "new guys" but he still looks amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2lP5Ymx ... e=youtu.be


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

That guy is a stud! really nice looking fish. He is going to look awsome when he is full grown.

Hows the flavus doing? I had one several years back and he would turn mustard yellow when he was feeling dominate.


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## esparzar1 (Jun 14, 2009)

well, he's doing.....kinda a whimp but warming up to the tank slowly. I'd say he's at the bottom of the pecking order. I've always heard that they can be pretty fiesty so I'm hoping he grows a pair and starts to show his colors. We will have to just wait ant see.


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## esparzar1 (Jun 14, 2009)

Bump.....So an update with my tank  The boys are doing great!

What I'm finding more and more is overstocking is ideal (or so it seems in my tank). When I had anywhere from 7-9 males in the tank, I seemed to run in to problems. I would have some aggression issues and occasional deaths. Now, with a total of 13 males it seems a lot more peaceful. The fish are always out an about and it's very busy (which I love!). No aggression/hiding issues whatsoever!

*****This has only been about 2 months so, a lot can change, and I still have 3 juvies which sex cannot be determined at this time*****

As of right now here is my stock

-Met. Greshakei 6+ inch
-Ps. Acei 6 inch
-Met. Callainos 5 inch
-Lab Caereleus 5 inch
-Ps. Zebra Long Pelvic 5 inch
-Cyno "Jalo Reed" 2.5 inch
-Cyno hybrid? (thought it was likoma but still unsure) 2.5 inch
-Met. Lobardoi 2.5 inch (leaning towards male?)
-Ps. Flavus 2.25 inch
-Met. OB (blueberry) 2.5
-Ps. Saulosi (unsure of sex) 2 inch
-Ps. Demosoni (unsure of sex) 1.5 inch
-Lab. Hongi (unsure of sex)2 inch

Here is a video!





and a few pics!


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

Nice! Really really nice looking tank!


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## kittyk (Sep 20, 2012)

Help !!! Went online to place my order of mbuna's earlier today. Was planning on getting the correct m/f ratio. The guy on phone asked if I was planning on breeding...answer is "no' ..since I live in a small town, don't know alot of aquarists and don't have a LFS to give fry to. It's a 3 hour drive to the nearest big city. Anyway he says "what about a all male tank?' . I told him that my research has been with the m/f ratio, but he told me to avoid any aggression its best to do an all male tank. So I went and order all males of the following 3 species Yellow electric, albino scolofi and Mbamba , for a total of 16 (55 gal). Now i'm reading in this thread it should only be one male of different species !!!!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

That is correct. Can you call him back?


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## kittyk (Sep 20, 2012)

DJRansome said:


> That is correct. Can you call him back?


Got a hold of him shortly after posting this. Explained what I read and asked him if I could go back to my original plans of male /female mix of Electric yellow, albino scolofi and Mbamba. They come tomorrow !!!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The adult fish will eat any fry. Also with all-male mbuna in a 55G you would not have wanted 16 fish...all-male is stocked a little more lightly.


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## scooter31707 (Aug 24, 2012)

Here is my All Male Mbuna tank: 6ft 125 gallon that has been up and running for about 8 months. All male mbuna tank can be done with a little bit of trial and error. I have the occasional chasing and lip locking but nothing major that will call stress on the fish. All the fish are from 2.5 to 4 inches. I have enough rockwork which each fish has their own cave and space.

Yellow Tail Acei
SRT Hongi
Albino Cobalt
Maingano
Chailosi
White Top Hara
Yellow Lab
Blue Dolphin Manda
Red Top Trewavasae
Rusty
Thick Bar Chitimba
Tropheops Makokola OB
Pseudotropheus Orange Elongatus(hybrid IMO), LFS said it is a true species...go figure
Abactochromis Labrosus
Metriaclima Zebra OB

**I have a Cyno Lion Cove, Williamsi Blue Lip, White Lab, and Albino Auratus(trial..little nervous about the horror stories I have heard about them) that will be arriving at the end of the week.

http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b56 ... d0e0ae.jpg


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

I cannot bring myself to attempt an all-male tank. I have one dragonsblood male that is just a demon. I cannot imagine having a tank full of demons or potential demons. I have moved and relocated him about 5 times...I put him back with the group of other haps/peacocks (mostly hybrids) that I have and he terrorized my borleyi hybrid. I removed the borleyi only to have him move down the line. He consistantly does this. I often sit just watching the tank and reprimanding him for his behaviors. About ready to pull him again but I'm really getting tired of this. I applaud all you out there that make these tanks work. And when they do they are absolutely breathtaking. Go males!!!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Avoid the hybrids and things might go easier...they tend to be crazy.


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