# Any experience with Kenyis anyone?



## ragga86 (Jul 7, 2008)

Hey whats going on everyone? I recently just picked up my Kenyi for my tank. He is a nice looking fish, but he is really a mean fish. I have a 29 Gallon with just 4 Africans. 1 cherry red zebra,1 Kenyi, and two others but i forgot there names. Neways i have like 2 nicely sized rock piles but the Kenyi will leave his cave, race to the other side and harrass everyone. I mean he has his own cave, but its like he has to go to someone elses cave and chase them out, and start to dig. Does anyone have experience with kenyi's, and how can i curb his attitude?


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## Dave (Feb 9, 2003)

Unfortunately, your tank is much too small to house either M. lombardoi (kenyi) or the M. estherae (red zebra). Depending on what your species the other two fish are they may not be suitable either. M. lombardoi has a well earned reputation for being extremely aggressive, as can zebras to an extent, which is what makes these fish unsuitable for this tank.


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## PRSKILLER (May 26, 2008)

I have about 14 Kenyi in my 55g tank, another 2 dozen fry in a 10g tank and my mama Kenyi is holding again. Lots of movement in my tank which also includes 4 yellow labs, 1 elec blue and 1 synodontis angelecus. My dom male rules the tank but he has so much to chase he cannot concentrate on just one fish to harass. Your 29 is to small because with these fish you would want to over stock to spread the aggression. My 55 will soon be to small so they will all move to my 75 and I'll be trading in Kenyi fry for supplies at my lfs. Lots of people give up on the Kenyi but I find myself liking them and I've had no deaths from the dom male. :thumb: :thumb:


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## sirmo (Sep 9, 2008)

I concur you will need a bigger tank for those guys.

I had 4 keni in my 55 up until 2 days ago. Dominant male was getting out of control...moved him out and now have 1 male and 2 females.


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## ragga86 (Jul 7, 2008)

Oh yea I know its a pretty small setup. I have a 55 gallon at home but I am at school in a dorm room so that is why I only want 4 fish, possibly 5 fish. But yea kenyis are pretty interesting to watch. I brought each fish the same size to kind of curb their attitudes, and I have lots of caves, but no luck. I want to stock up a little more, but I worry about the bio load. Neways thanks for the help everyone. I will try and add more caves etc


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

Yes, I'd say you need a bigger tank or different fish. I bought two real small kenyi for my 55g. before I knew what they were (1male-1female). After I read about them I got more females and one of them turned out to be male so I got rid of it as soon as it started changing colors. Mine are getting pretty good size now...the original male is anyway but there's been no breeding activity yet so no problems yet. I keep a close eye on them though because I know it will start. When it does, I'll get rid of them (if I don't have a bigger tank by then).


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## ragga86 (Jul 7, 2008)

Yea, I think I'm going to bring him home today and let him swim around in my 55 which is 90 percent haps, he most likely won't try any of his nonsence with any of my haps.truthfully I have never dealth with a more aggressive fish than kenyis. Ok so one last question, suppose I bring one of my smallest haps from my 55 to my 30(yes I know haps need lots of room), do you guys think just the haps presence will curb the kenyis aggression?


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

Not in the 30g.. As said before the tank is just to small and that's a BIG part of his problem.


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

When the kenyi leaves the 30g. tank the red zebra will probably tank over as tank bully. You should post pics of the 2 fish you don't know the names of in the unidentified section and find out what they are and if the 30g. is suitable for them too.


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## Joea (May 25, 2004)

ragga86 said:


> do you guys think just the haps presence will curb the kenyis aggression?


No, and depending on which species the hap is, the _M. lombardoi_ could end up terrorizing and killing the hap. Don't let the size of a fish dictate your belief of its ability to become the dominant fish or not.


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## ragga86 (Jul 7, 2008)

The hap I wanted to transfer is a livingstoni(I might have butched the spelling). But yea this some good info.I don't want to get rid of him from my school tank but I guess ill take him home


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## neilh (Apr 25, 2008)

Single male Kennyi together with Haps in a 30G is asking for trouble. Kept mine for about 4 months and decided to trade him in on the weekend. The Haps are a lot happier and swimming a lot more freely rather than hiding in a corner...


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## goldtopper (Jun 27, 2008)

In one of my tanks I have a very odd combination- 2 kenyis, 2 brichardis and 5 yellow labs. They all get along very well.


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

ragga86 said:


> The hap I wanted to transfer is a livingstoni...


The 29g s even less suitable for a livingstoni than for the kenyi, they can be 10-11 inches. I have see a 3 inch kenyi beat up and kill 6-7 in haps in a matter of hours. Best bet is to get rid of the fish you have in the 29g and get a group of suitable fish. Kenyi and red zebra really shouldn't be in anything less than a 75g and probably not together.


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## ragga86 (Jul 7, 2008)

UPDATE: well after a recent water change the kenyi turned a total pansy and now he just hides near the heater at the very corner of the tank, and now the other three fish bully him around weird. After the water change, and changed up the scheme of the rocks , they all started to fight for territory for an hour straight. It was **** in the tank, but now the tank is pretty calm. Oh yea i added more rocks, and allot more hiding places. Yes i know the tank is still not suitable but i am in school.


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## bgko (Oct 24, 2007)

Don't be fulled by the kenyi hiding as soon as it gets comfortable with it's new tank mates they start getting bossy. I had a sub adult male kenyi 2 to 3 inches kill a 6 to 7 inch livingstoni when I first started up. The livingstoni definitely wasn't scared of the kenyi but the kenyi had times of the day where it was in non stop attack mode. The kenyi was a great fish but a real pain with it's tank mates. That was my beginners mistake just my 2 cents.


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## becadavies (Apr 2, 2007)

I agree with all the above.

In my experiance once Lombardoi reach maturity they are a royal pain in the ar$e...I've kept them on 3 separate occasions (each time thinking the last was a one off!) and they managed to terrorise and kill each time. I personally think they are single species, large(ish) tank inhabitants only. But then thats just _my_ experiance with them.


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## jennye0 (May 27, 2008)

In my opinion they are really tough fish to work with. :?

I used to have a pair of kenyis , male and female, in a 40 gallon with other mbuna. They would terrorize the tank, killing at least one fish every month. Then I moved them to a 75g and they had 14 fry. I tried overstocking them but the male would still fight with every fish and the calmer fish would always be scared in a corner. The male ended up killing about half of them and I ended up getting rid of all the kenyis.


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## WHITE KNIGHT (Sep 27, 2008)

Put them on there own i have two & when they breed thats when the trouble will really start, although they are a nice fish m or f they are real pains ( in my opinion ).


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