# Bumble Bee



## Breeze (Aug 31, 2014)

I have a large bumble bee that I presume is a male: very dark now that he is about 5 inches, constantkly excavating the stones, and Very territorial. He is now separated from the others because of his aggressiveness. Hate having a one fish tank. Could I add a female?? Would they get along?


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

No. Certainly not a "pairing" cichlid. Might just chase the female all of the time and make her life terrible.

You need a pretty large crowded tank. Yes, many have said that they are a pain as they get unnaturally oversized and are tough.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

Breeze said:


> Could I add a female?? Would they get along?


Probably not. Like most cichlids they have high conspecific aggression. They are generally most aggressive towards there own kind.
Usually to make things work out, a higher number of females, say 4 or more, as well as other cichlids in the tank, so that the male does not focus his aggression on only on the one female.
Occasionally there are exceptions, but generally keeping a higher number of females to a male, is a good idea. 
Problem with bumble bee is that it is a fairly large fish. Get's to 8". I believe some can get over 200 grams which is a good 3-5X the size of most other adult mbuna.
Need a large tank for a group of them, plus the fact that they are not very colorful so few people will want large numbers of them in a tank.

IME, they do fine with giant danios. Though that is with other cichlids in the tank.

What size of tank do you have?


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## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

i have a large colony of Pseudotropheus crabro in my 6ft 125g. Probably have 15 or so. I keep them with other highly aggressive species (Melanochromis auratus) (Maylandia lombardoi) (Metriaclima zebra (OB) and (Melanochromis chipokae) i am making plans to move the Melanochromis chipokae so they dont hybrid with auratus. this group works well for me but each species i keep 12 each give or take a little. so not good to have just 1 crabro he needs a large group to spread aggression better.


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## smitty814 (Sep 27, 2012)

What size tank is the crabro in? I would not add just one but would add maybe 10 more.


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## kd5exp (Mar 21, 2014)

I have 3 of the Bumble Bees and they are in with Yellow Labs (4) and seem to get along alright. They are getting big for the tank which is a 39 gal bow front. I don't know the sex of them. I think all of these are males but not sure.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

smitty814 said:


> maybe 10 more.


For that alone, you need a good size tank! From my perspective, at least a 6 ft. 125 gal.


pfoster74 said:


> 6ft 125g. Probably have 15 or so.


From my perspective, that is more then enough in itself. Really not that much space for that many big fish.
With the 50 or so mbuna you have in that tank, I can't imagine that most would be anywhere near full grown.
Difficult to maintain decent water quality!
This is male bumble bee less then 2 years after purchase. 8" 18O grams. don't believe they get much longer, but I know they can get bigger and heavier. Females can get similar size to this eventually. I wouldn't even keep 15 of these in a 180 gal. No thanks :lol: 

This is a male less then 2 years after being born. 7" 86 grams.(about equal to 1 1/2 years from purchase). Still a big fish compared to most adult mbuna, even at a young age! 

With decent care, I think you should expect bumble bee to get some where with in these sizes, if not larger eventually. Even my female is over 7" and well over 100 grams less then 3 years after being born.


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## kd5exp (Mar 21, 2014)

How do you tell the male from the female?


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## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

kd5exp said:


> How do you tell the male from the female?


the male turn jet black and the females keep the black yellow barring.


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## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

pfoster74 said:


> 6ft 125g. Probably have 15 or so.


From my perspective, that is more then enough in itself. Really not that much space for that many big fish.
With the 50 or so mbuna you have in that tank, I can't imagine that most would be anywhere near full grown.
Difficult to maintain decent water quality!
had this group together for about 3 years now and have fully mature male and females also have have some mid size 5 to 6 inch size from spawns still growing. i have a 8 inch male and a 5 inch male crabro. water quality is fine.


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## kd5exp (Mar 21, 2014)

After reading several posts I believe I have 1 male and 2 females. The one male, I think, changes from very dark to yellow bars at times. He is the bigger of the 3 I have so maybe I'm alright. Still need a bigger tank for them.


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## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

kd5exp said:


> After reading several posts I believe I have 1 male and 2 females. The one male, I think, changes from very dark to yellow bars at times. He is the bigger of the 3 I have so maybe I'm alright. Still need a bigger tank for them.


they will do best in a 6ft or longer tank. when you move them you should get some more females and consider growing those out some in your 39g before adding them with the larger cfabro in your 6ft future tank. i would not add anymore crabro or any other cichlids to your current tank without a bigger option.


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## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

here are some examples of how big they can get


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