# problems with ruby greens



## shaguars7 (Apr 12, 2009)

well about 1 month ago i picked up 5 haplochromis sp"ruby green" i am having problems sexing them and there is noone colouring up. I think there must be a male in htere or 2 not too sure like i said. I got these fish to be a host fish for syno breeding, but am getting frustrated with them quickly..i have had no deaths as of yet but there is aggression in the tank, all the fish are between 1.25-2". there are in a 38 gallon with about 50lbs of river rock...any thoughts or insight would be grealtly appreciated.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

They should colour up at any time. It may be easier to tell under 10,000K bulbs. As long as you're feeding them good food and the water is warm enough a male should show his true colours soon. Vics are typically only really colourful when in breeding dress, if there is only a single male in the aquarium and he isn't breeding he will remain that dull silver colour.


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## StructureGuy (Jul 27, 2002)

At that size I would have expected you could at least identify one probable male. Even my subdominant males are sexable at 2".










Above are mine at a small size in a single species 55 gallon tank.

Kevin


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## shaguars7 (Apr 12, 2009)

well i am guessing that having eggsspots on the anal fin is not a distinguishing factor...becuase all of mine have them, and i know all are not male because when i released them in my tank one of the fish...dont know which one released fry...so i do know 1 forsure is a female. one thing i am thinking is there is the biggest one is about 2 " and it is atleast .5 icnh bigger than the others...i think the hobbyist who owns his own aquatic care company thought they were all from the same lineage and brood so it was bigger therefore made it male....i have watched them quite a bit and that fish does run the show in the tank but i think it is more from size than maybe being a male....i have seen one of the other fish doing a bit of a dance infront of another fish, so i think it may be a male....really i guess i am confused....i now that they look somewhat similar to the fish in the previous post but am starting to think it is possibly a mix with a flameback??....i will post some pics soon as i will be getting a camera so i will do that in the next week or two......does anyone feel it would be beneficial if i remove the biggest fish to see if the smaller fish will start to colour up???


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## shaguars7 (Apr 12, 2009)

and as for food i am feeding them HBH veggie 8....my other malawi fish like it so i figured it should be fine...thanks and maybe someone who keeps these guys could let me know what type of food they have had success with....tahnks


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## shaguars7 (Apr 12, 2009)

alright so i am not going out on a limb here, but i guess not too many vic keppers out there are in this forum...lol......this is somewhat humerous and unfortunate...after staring at my tank for about 2 hours today... i think the biggest fish is a female and i have 2 males in there... i am starting to see a little bit colour on two of the smaller fish and none on the biggest..i am hoping in the next 2 weeks they will show a little more, so i can figure which one to keep and get rid of the other...i guess i will also have to get more females as i here it is necessary.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

Try feeding your fish something heavier like NLS, I find that it helps with colour and growth over just flakes.


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## StructureGuy (Jul 27, 2002)

Darkside said:


> Try feeding your fish something heavier like NLS, I find that it helps with colour and growth over just flakes.


I second Darkside's advise. I feed mine some Dainichi color enhancing pellets once a week. The krill helps to bring out the red.

Kevin


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## shaguars7 (Apr 12, 2009)

alright thanks for the food info....i have HBH cichlid attack pellets...i will fedd them that a few times a week to see if it helps.....
so Kevin you said you have them in a 55. How many do you have in there and the ratio's?
Anyone else feel free to chyme in on tank sizes aswell as nuber of fish and ratio's....Thanks


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## StructureGuy (Jul 27, 2002)

shaguars7 said:


> so Kevin you said you have them in a 55. How many do you have in there and the ratio's?


I like to buy a large group of fry/juveniles and watch them grow. I bought all 17 that a local breeder had at around 3/4" to 1" in 2006. I lucked out with a 4M:13F ratio. When they got older, I had to remove one male as he was constantly harrassed and not looking too happy.

Two males are fully colored almost all the time as they split the tank territory in half. The third male is mostly silver colored (like Darkside said) but his larger size, the large bright egg spots and slight reddish tint gives him away as a subdominant male.

After 4 years I still have 3M:9F in that single species tank and there are almost always 3 females holding. (one time had 7 holding moms at once) If I had bothered to raise all the fry, I'm sure it would have been over 1000 fish. At this age the moms are spitting around 40 fry.

Kevin


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

I bought 1M-4F a few months ago for my 30 gallon tank. The male was larger than the females and fully colored at about 2.5". Later, one of the "females" started to get some tinges of red to the tail and I'm somewhat convinced it's a male. But the dominate male doesn't harass him, so I'm leaving him in. Two of the females are currently holding. I do like them this fish quite a lot. I plan to eventually move them to a 50ish gallon tank just to give them more room. I'm hoping I can keep both boys and add some more girls.

I, too, am worried about being overrun with fry, but I have four syndontis lucippinis in the tank, and I'm thinking they'll eat all the fry. yes?


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