# Bad male kenyi, how do i stop him



## leavitt14 (May 13, 2009)

I have a 55g that is home to a male kenyi (about 4.5") and still seems to be growing, just untill today he had 3 females with him, a 5" Jack D, 2.5"Green Terror and a 4"male iceblue Zebra 
I know what some will say about keeping the JD and GT with the africans but they where all placed in the tank as babys other than the GT and I have made a very strong attempt at adding more than enough rockwork and plants for every one to establish there territories quiet well....plus doing all i can to meet there water needs, With that said the male kenyi runs the tank, he seems to have gotten far more aggressive after his first spawn with the one female. Now he is on patrole 24-7 for just about anything that moves, he never really hurts anything as there are alot of hiding spaces but i feel like all of the other fish are always uneasy and alittle stressed by him, SO today i removed his females......will this help?? or will it make him more mad? I really dont want to get rid of him as i have had him for a year now, he has not really ever been so aggrssive but this has been going on for about 2 months now, i got the GT just because i hope its a male and will one day take things over, the green terror is the one that the male kenyi chases the least already but i dont know if thats just luck....anyways any tips on how to calm him would great!


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

He is fully sexually mature now so the aggression really ramps up. I would remove all the kenyis as they are extremely aggressive and really should not be ke[t in anything smaller than a 75 with other very aggressive species. Even the female will go after larger fish and beat them to death.


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## MidNightCowBoy (May 7, 2007)

Yea that stocklist and the (relatively) small tank size is just a recipe for disaster. Get rid of everything except the jack dempsey and get some hardy dithers for your jack and your good.


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## Voodoo Chilli (Jun 29, 2004)

He's doing what sexually mature kenyis do best.

I agree with the others: you really don't have any options other than to remove the little devils.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I was going to move this thread to the Malawi section, but I see you've got quite the stock list there.

I suggest making some major changes all the way around before this tank blows up on you completely.

Kenyi should not be kept in anything less than a 75G tank, and I would really recommend larger than that. With your current questionable stocking, things won't get better...

Mbuna do best with overstocking, but with the JD and GT in the picture, you can't really attempt it.


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## leavitt14 (May 13, 2009)

Thanks alot for the input, i am attached to my male kenyi just about as mch as i am the JD and GT so i decided to try out going with just the 4 fish in the 55g being; the male kenyi, JD,GT and the zebra, the kenyi never chases the GT or JD or has not in the past so i hope this works out.... IS it possible tho that the male Kenyi is mistaking the male zebra to be a felmale kenyi as the 2 look very similar, and this is why the aggression has gone to him


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

leavitt14 said:


> IS it possible tho that the male Kenyi is mistaking the male zebra to be a felmale kenyi as the 2 look very similar, and this is why the aggression has gone to him


I highly doubt he is mistaking a male for a female under any circumstances.

Again, it's your stocking choices...As I said before, mbuna (especially aggressive ones) should be overstocked with other mbuna, not SA and CA cichlids.


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## leavitt14 (May 13, 2009)

If I were to get rid of the kenyi and zebra, and keep just the JD (who is definitely a female, btw) and GT (who is still a juvenile) would that work in the long run? If those two are gonna be ok together, is there any other kind of cichlid I can keep in the tank with them? I would still prefer to keep the kenyi unless I absolutely cannot keep them together and expect to have a happy tank in the future.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

You might get away with one or the other (the JD OR the GT) in a tank this size, but I don't think both of them will fare well long term in this small of a tank.


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

In the library section there is a cookie cutter suggestion for a Central American 55g. They offer a pair (mated pair, not just two fish) as an option, but GTs are not listed as a possibilty at all. While the JDs stay 8-9 inches at full growth, GTs can hit 11-12". With the tank only being 12 inches wide, the GT really should be removed.

up grade to a 75g tank and the JD and GT will likely be fine together.


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## leavitt14 (May 13, 2009)

well today I removed all but the Jack dempsey and the green terror, did a major up grade in lava rocks and plants making the the tank look much more like their natural home... i guess if needed in a while i will have to get a larger tank, but im gonna try this out for a while they seem much more happy already! thx for the help


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

leavitt14 said:


> well today I removed all but the Jack dempsey and the green terror, did a major up grade in *lava rocks* and plants making the the tank look much more like their natural home... i guess if needed in a while i will have to get a larger tank, but im gonna try this out for a while they seem much more happy already! thx for the help


Well considering a Jack Dempsey is a Central American cichlid and a Green Terror is a South American cichlid, they may very well come from different types of ecosystems. I do not think there are too many lava rocks in the GT's river systems.


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