# little help with fish chasing females to death



## derrick719 (Jan 28, 2010)

ok so i picked up this guy last week http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg43 ... G_1937.jpg
not completely sure what he is but think he is melanochromis auratus (maybe a hybrid) so i bought him some ladies and he is just chasing them one is almost dead after 3 hours and other is just hiding in the rocks prob next. he is chasing everyone and he is prob the smallest in the tank my full grown perlmuts run from him.
this is what the girls look like. one is in a separator tank other girl i can get to 
http://www.aquariumlife.net/profile-ima ... tus-lg.jpg

any help would be great


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## CaseyV (Jan 2, 2010)

how many females do you have? with the auratus you need at LEAST 5 females


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## derrick719 (Jan 28, 2010)

i just got 2 for the one male thats all the store had guess that was my prob


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## zazz (Apr 5, 2008)

you should get one of those plastic breeder tanks and fix it to the side of the tank... if you have a fish thats getting more than its fair share of aggresion you can drop it in there while you work on the stocking issues. Chasing of females isnt always consistent ..it comes in waves so maybe after a while you can drop it back into the tank and see what happens.


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## derrick719 (Jan 28, 2010)

ya i had one a the gals in there but she died from the stress last night i was able to catch the other shes in it now but dont know how well she is going to do


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## scrubjay (Oct 25, 2009)

Looks like he is at least partly M. auratus. They are one of the worst for aggression and killing other fish. :?

As the species article says: "The reason for being a difficult or problematic fish is due to the fact that it is far more aggressive than the majority of Mbuna. Adult males are perhaps the most aggressive of any Mbuna available, period. They are violently intolerant of male conspecifics (i.e., fish of similar appearance). Simply do not try and keep more than one of these males in anything less than 125 gallons. Males can be quite effective at laying claim to almost half of a 50-gallon aquarium, fighting anyone who trespasses, unless to spawn."
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/m_auratus.php

I'm not sure how large your tank is, but I'm guessing it isn't 125 gallons.

If it were me, I would get rid of him, and most people come to the same conclusion and take them back to the fish store. You don't want to be breeding a Malawi cichlid that may be a hybrid by any means! It is highly discouraged in the hobby.

If you want to breed Malawi cichlids, there are so many nice species. This one is not one of them. It's expensive to have him continually kill fish, and the ladies are not likely having much fun either. I think you would be so much happier with another species. :fish:


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## scrubjay (Oct 25, 2009)

A lot of Malawi cichlids will play nice and look beautiful with the perlmutts too.

Avoid all of these bad actors:
"Kenyi" _Metriaclima lombardoi_
"auratus" _Melanochromis auratus_
"bumblebee" "hornet" _Pseudotropheus crabro_
"Johanni" _Melanochromis johannii_

Be WARY of fish store advice, unless they are warning you _away _from various combinations. Many people have come home with fish that are entirely inappropriate to house together because of "advice." If you are unsure about combinations, you can always take notes on what stores have and come back here to ask first. 8)


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