# All Female tank ?



## feesh (Oct 11, 2011)

I was considering making my 30 gallon into an all-female lake malawi cichlid tank.
I would have 4-5 fish, and the species would be labidochromis caeruleus (electric yellow) and maylandia lombardoi (kenyi mbuna).

My main reasons would be to reduce aggression and prevent breeding.
Would this work and will the species match up? I am mainly curious about the aggression.
I have plenty of hiding spots and caves, including a large texas holey rock. Thanks for your help.


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## GoofBoy (Jul 3, 2007)

Tank dimensions?


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## QHgal (May 18, 2006)

Kenyi would beat the snot out of the labs, would eventually kill them all and one kenyi would come out on top, killing everything else in the tank. Just because its female, doesn't mean its not aggressive. There are so many of us that have been tricked by a female pretending to be a male, claiming territory and coloring up exactly like a male. a 30 gal is WAY too small for Kenyi, and for most Mbuna. You'd have to go with dwarf species in that tank or not do Mbuna. Maybe some shellies, def NOT Kenyi tho... Honestly, its pushing it to put Kenyi in a 55...


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## feesh (Oct 11, 2011)

ok thanks, what are some good dwarf species then? and could i put dwarf with the electric yellows?

tank dimensions are 30-3/16"L x 12-1/2"W x 18-3/4"H


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## Ryan82 (Aug 3, 2011)

Cynotilapia Afras or Pseudotropheus Salousi are both dwarf species. I like Cynotilapia afras myself, but I had some Afras with a dominant yellow lab that was bigger than them, and the Afras wouldn't color up until I took the larger yellow lab out of the tank. Afras display great color, but only if they feel like they are dominant fish in the tank.

I know that you want an all female tank, but I think you should consider Psedotropheus Salousi. That way, you get two good colors out of one species (Blue males with black bars & Yellowish Golden Females) , but don't mix them with yellow labs because they look too similar to the Salousi females. IMO, the Salousi females look better than yellow labs.

I'm not sure how many to get with the small tank that you have, but I have read on here before about people keeping salousi species tanks that are smaller than 55 gallons with success.


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## QHgal (May 18, 2006)

For a 30 gal, you want to go with a species only tank. And, whether you do Afra or Saulosi, you would only want one male in that tank.


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## Bungalowdan (Aug 16, 2010)

+1 on the Saulosi,

I currently have saulosi in a 75 along with others and they are a wonderful species, easily my favorite mbuna. I've toyed with the idea of some tank shuffling to my 38 as a species tank. There are a number of threads on the topic - do a search, but here is one to get you started. The vintage tank of the month referenced is John Labbe's Saulosi Social Society, which IMO is in the running for tank of all time.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... 7e63efc26f


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