# Tropheus vs Tropheops vs Mbuna



## hoxy (Apr 26, 2009)

Hi All,

This is like a general question. Let say you have to choose between species, why do we want to choose tropheus over tropheops and vice versa, or maybe tropheus over Mbuna and so on.

I have Mbunas and some Hap, a lot of it is still unidentified (I kept it in the pond and just randomly mix all sort of species). I think I have some tropheops. I know I will eventually have a serious hybridization issue. Personally, I love love to sit beside the pond (I have 2 ponds) and see the aggression between species and themselves. It was a lot of fun. I just wondered what kind of different experience would I get with tropheus.

I went to a store and asked for tropheus price. To my amazement, it priced higher or same with Frontosa (juvenile). I have started to wonder what so great about tropheus anyway.

Thanks,
Hoxy


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

It all depends on what you want out of the fish. Some people like single species tanks, other prefer communities. SOme want an all male tank with lots of color, while others enjoy the behaviors associated with breeding groups.

Tropheus are a colonial fish (living as a colony) much like frontosa. They tend to carry these higher prices as they are caught and sold or at least should be) as an existing colony. plus they seem to be in demand right now so that always ups the price of any commodity.

Tropheops are a genus of mbuna, like Pseudotropheus, or Melanochromis and fit the general mbuna personality and care profile.

You will not really have any different experience in a pond setting. If you are not concerned with producing and selling fry, then any species grouping will give you the relaxation effect of watching the fish.

I have always wanted a tropheus colony, but am not able to put out that kind of money one needsover here in the States.


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## hoxy (Apr 26, 2009)

Thanks for the reply. I love sitting by the pond and seeing the fish behaviour. It was priceless. Cichlid is a fish with character, I can testify to that.

I'm planning to get a colony of tropheus too, but if I ever managed to gather money to buy the colony, I wont put in a pond setting... I'll buy an aquarium and raise them. Mixing them with the general populations wont work because I'm giving the fish a normal fish pellet food. I will need to provide the tropheus spirulina right? Personally, I cant wait to have this fish. I'm in love with cichlid.

My cichlid dont fear strangers. Especially when I decided to rearrange the rocks, they just gather around my hand and watch. As soon as construction finish, they'll gather and checkout the new hideout. Even during construction, I have to chase them away... this fish has no fear of the rocks falling on them, giving me a heart attack. Funny thing is, they can recognised fish net, as soon they see one, they run. This fish must be good at image identification. Seeing that their females (in website) has different color, I'm wondering if they can see colors. This cichlid must be a smart species (to be able to differentiate things and see colors).

One of the thing I noticed in the pond is that when sun set... some very little bug (a little bit bigger than sand size), flying just on top of the water surface. The cichlid will jump out of the water (until the head is out) to catch the bug. I'm very surprised, because they managed to get those bugs... I was amazed.

I buy fish without knowing the species (american or african). It was careless of my part. I think I have gold severum (south american) together with the africans. They are casualties from the original amount that I've bought, but the pond is getting very stable... no more dead fish. I noticed that the severum have a partner, I've checked in the website that they form a partnership even during their young and it will be a long-lasting relationship, right? So, this fish pair... they fight as a pair, fending off invading africans that get into their territory. That bring a whole new meaning of colloboration to me... because it is clear that their mouth are smaller than the africans, their body looks small due to their round shape, and the african look bigger (due to their longer body), but they have all the heart to fight. The african mostly leave them alone. Partnership brings you further. Regretably, I have to move them to my other pond once they get bigger. It was fun though.

They is one dominance blue zebra (I'm not sure what species)... that love this one spot. The spot is like the worst ever spot you will pick. It is like picking a place where everyone need to pass that place and make it your territory. When the first time I saw this, I thought the fish will eventually give up. How do you want to ask others to choose other means to get to one place when we got a highway there. Despite all that, he managed to conquer the spot. It was hard work all day long fending those spot. His color was always vibrant all day long. With at least 40 over fish, it takes a lot of intimidation and running from his part to pull this off. I pity him that he'll wear himself out to die of exhaustion. The funny thing is that, because he managed to fend those fish off, the [email protected] over there is longer and greener (hehe). All the other fish is jealous of that location and try to eat there. Every now and then, the fish managed to penetrate, get a nip of green there and quickly run for their life. After a while, the fishes come back again and do the guerilla thing again and again. Even funnier is that the dominance fish also like to grace the green, but at a different spot outside of his territory. This is very funny to me because while other fish want to eat at his place, he eat at the general community place while leaving his territory untouch. You'll noticed that his area is green and the general community area has patches of green (due to constant nipping by the cichlid). For me, the dominance fish is showing just how selfish and greedy he is... typical of a successful and dominant guy too right?

That is why I'm asking about tropheus behaviour. Just wondering... because I'm in love with Mbuna.

Thanks,
Hoxy


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## Afishionado (Jun 6, 2006)

My impression from keeping both:

It should be said first that I regard both as being quite colourful, active, interesting and rewarding.

That being said, mbuna are the more colourful of the two (not counting the drab females of many species) and also provide you with more diversity of colour. Tropheus, for their part, are even more active than mbuna are, and the Tropheus activity seems more constant (to me), and therefore a little more relaxing to watch than the sporadic activity of the mbuna. The Tropheus colony just gives me a bit more of that impression of teeming underwater life. I really like my mbuna tank for its variety and colour, but would probably give the edge to my Tropheus tank in terms of which of the two I'm drawn to sitting in front of for extended periods of time.


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