mbuna aggression

[Craziiininja]

does anyone on here keep mbuna? i'm having some problems that i need some help with

[Atitagain]

I’ve kept them before. Lots of caves, pathways, nooks, basically anything that breaks up line of site and plenty of places for each to claim as their own. Certain types will never get along do extra homework on this. Breeding can bring out insane amount of aggression, if you have M/F may need to isolate them if you want to breed. If you don’t want to breed you will absolutely need to go with one or the other. Mbuna are very proficient and frequent breeders. Water quality/ parameters are very important as well either out of wack causes stress. 

[Craziiininja]

i've bred my mbuna several times. My issue is that im having fin nipping going on and the fish are all juveniles. everyone keeps saying you need the right male to female ratio but they literally all look the same so how do you remove excesss males if they all literally look the exact same?

[Atitagain]

Also tank size a lot can be dealt with by not over stocking. IMO and IME over stocking cichlids is for peacocks with mbuna it just creates more problems.

[Craziiininja]

well i have 34 mbuna in a 125g 

[Atitagain]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:31 AM, Craziiininja said:

i've bred my mbuna several times. My issue is that im having fin nipping going on and the fish are all juveniles. everyone keeps saying you need the right male to female ratio but they literally all look the same so how do you remove excesss males if they all literally look the exact same?

M/F ratio is for breeding or long term stocking. How many juveniles do you have? What size tank? Do you have hides for them? Mbuna start out aggressively and will try to out compete for food as juveniles 

[Craziiininja]

i have a lot of caves in there and i plan to keep these fish long term this is a display tank

its a 125 gallon tank

[Atitagain]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:33 AM, Craziiininja said:

well i have 34 mbuna in a 125g 

Is the whole group in here? If so I have no idea that’s plenty of room

[Craziiininja]

yeah i feel like ive done everything right and they are still fin nipping i dont know what to do other than just let it be

[Atitagain]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:36 AM, Craziiininja said:

i have a lot of caves in there and i plan to keep these fish long term this is a display tank

its a 125 gallon tank

34 as in 34 juveniles? If that’s all that’s in there maybe they having hard time finding the food your feeding and all they can find is each other

[Craziiininja]

They all eat from the top of the water they find the food just fine but they are all 2 to 2 and half inches

[Atitagain]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:38 AM, Craziiininja said:

yeah i feel like ive done everything right and they are still fin nipping i dont know what to do other than just let it be

Are you positive it’s fin nipping? Maybe fin rot. Is there white on the fins

and I’m not the one to say what’s what about that just trying to help may need to wait for someone with more experience to respond 

[Craziiininja]

i dont think its fin rot i've dealt with that years before with betta fish. i watch them nipping at each other all the time so i suspect they are being aggressive. thanks for trying to help but its just a hard thing to figure out theres no one answer. i really appreaciate the help tho

[Atitagain]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:41 AM, Craziiininja said:

They all eat from the top of the water they find the food just fine but they are all 2 to 2 and half inches

Only thing else I would suggest, small multiple feedings even 4-5 a day if able. Live foods, frozen, pellets, and flake also could give veggies ; green beans, cucumber, kale, ect keep it varied and as often as possible. If they stay full will be less likely to go after each other. 
watch water parameters close when doing this tho. Bio load will certainly increase 

On 9/29/2021 at 10:48 AM, Craziiininja said:

i dont think its fin rot i've dealt with that years before with betta fish. i watch them nipping at each other all the time so i suspect they are being aggressive. thanks for trying to help but its just a hard thing to figure out theres no one answer. i really appreaciate the help tho

Your welcome, hope it helps or someone else will know more and be able to give better advice.

[Craziiininja]

yeah i'll will come up with a plan and figure it out. thanks for taking the time to help. very kind of you. take care.

[Fish Folk]

We've kept a 55 gal with various mbunas before. They reach an age that's kind of like "high school" where fights break out behind the bleachers, behind the gym, etc. Eventually one Cichlid will become dominant and regulate everyone else. What kinds of mbunas are you keeping? We bred Auratus. They're insanely aggressive, and will mess with any other con-specific mbuna. Are any of the the males bearding yet? (color-changing due to spawning readiness)

Edited September 29, 2021 by Fish Folk

[Zenzo]

I have been keeping mbuna for many years...and I have two tanks with them now. Aggression is often something that I have had to manage. I can't link my videos here, but I have made several videos about managing aggression with African cichlids.

Having line-of-sight breaks will help a lot. I see that you mentioned having hiding places and caves, which is good. having sight breaks will help significantly. 

Also, as others have said, some additional feeding can help. Fat and happy as they say. Veggies are good for this because it takes longer to eat, is good for their digestive health, and gives them something to do.

Also, something that I have experimented with before is temperature. Lowering the temp by a couple of degrees tends to slow down their metabolism and activity just enough to sometimes curb aggression. I have done this before when leaving on vacation. For example, dropping from 78-80 degrees down to 76 degrees or so helped me. Fish are still fine at this temp. 

[daster36]

I just started them as well over a year ago, good advice I have read is dont get too attached when they are figuring out there pecking order you will have deaths. From all the diff opinions out there its hard to know what to do so try not to take them so seriously and stick to the basic there are certain ones that are more aggressive and overstocking is best. It really seems to comes down to individual personalities. I have multiple diff kinds of males and some females and they breed. I also have holey rock so the babies have places to hide. I have had to give away like 12 babies that grew up in the tank at this point. Its a 3 to 1 ratio of males and females. Good luck and dont get discouraged when one dies there is only so much you can do (easier said then done)