# question on victorian lake



## rrbailey5 (Jun 25, 2010)

I am wondering if kenyi fish are good tank mates for the victorian sp44
should i get all male?


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## GoofBoy (Jul 3, 2007)

A single male Kenyi (I assume you mean Metriaclima lombardoi) is not a good tank mate for much of anything.

They are hyper-aggressive and are usually best kept with 6+ girls per male to spread aggression.

There are plenty of other choices out there that aren't nearly as aggressive. If you provide tank size and all inhabitants (Including counts and M/F ratios you have), you may get a more detailed response.

Good Luck.


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## rrbailey5 (Jun 25, 2010)

Ok thanks for that information on the kenyi.. 
Im trying to make my tank into a one lake tank. 
Im just keeping the sp44's I have 2 males
I have females but thinking of just having a male tank.
Trying to figure out what would be best to have with them that are pretty and from same lake.
I have a 55 gallon with a marineland canister filter.. 
My water is a little soft. I think its supposed to be hard. Not sure how to fix that ither..
Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## GoofBoy (Jul 3, 2007)

rrbailey5 said:


> Ok thanks for that information on the kenyi..
> Im trying to make my tank into a one lake tank.
> Im just keeping the sp44's I have 2 males
> I have females but thinking of just having a male tank.
> ...


Kenyi are from Lake Malawi so you will have two lakes.

I would not try all-male in a 55 - I feel there just isn't enough room for the boys to spread out - the extra 6in front to back from a 75 really makes a difference.

As it appears you are in search of color, from lake Malawi, mbuna species like Pseudotropheus saulosi, Labidochromis caeruleus , Iodotropheus sprengerae would all be good options with better looking girls that will add color and should get along fine with your sp44's

I would try to end up with 2 or 3 species groups with the goal of having more females than males.

Any males that become too aggressive get re-homed to a LFS for trade in or donation.

I know most of what you read here is 1 male - I let the boys decide, so if 2-3 boys are fighting amongst themselves and no one has the upper hand, then they all get to play together for as long as they keep it 'nice' - I have noticed if they can entertain each other it is better for the rest of the tank.

Good Luck.


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## rrbailey5 (Jun 25, 2010)

im not going to get the kenyi for sure.. Im trying to acomplish a colorful fish tank from lake victoria, only cause i have some i guess. I dont know what lakes is ok to mix with so guess ill just pick one..ok so ill get males and females. bout how many total should i get?


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## GoofBoy (Jul 3, 2007)

One way is to get 6-10 of Pseudotropheus saulosi - it will look like you have 2 more species in there as the boys and girls are very different. Orange girls vs. blue bar boys.

Or 6-8 yellow labs and 6-8 of some other mbuna.

You really want to get enough to make sure you have enough girls to keep the boys of each species entertained - people usually go 6-10 depending how aggressive the mbuna species is.

The species I suggested are at the lower end of the aggression scale for mbuna.

You can get other fish from Lake Victoria, but the girls will be very drab in comparison to females of these suggestions. If you are focused on maximum color from all of the fish, I would go the Malawi mbuna route.

Good Luck.


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## rrbailey5 (Jun 25, 2010)

can the Malawi mbuna go with victorian the sp44? or is that not a good idea


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## rrbailey5 (Jun 25, 2010)

are the fish you have hard to find? Maybe ill just do a tank like yours. Im so confused to what fish can go with what..I live in Utah.


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