auratus turning dark grey (Information & Advice wanted)

Re: auratus question

Are these fish in a 20 gallon tank ? The males will change color as they mature and that can often times be the turning point when things go really bad for other tank mates, especially in a small tank.

 

Re: auratus question

In a 55 gallon tank I'd only do one male with two females, and personally I think that's pushing it.

 

Re: auratus question

You'd do 5-6 Melanochromis Auratus in a 55 gallon tank ?

I would do a trio of them, one male and two females and add in a trio of Labeotropheus trewavasae but they would have to be in a 75 gallon.

 

Re: auratus question

Fill the 55 with rocks bottom to top so it only actually holds 20 gallons of water. Sorry, just my personal opinion that I wouldn't put those guys in a 55 due to their aggressive behavior.

 

Re: auratus question

I have a trio of chipokoe(sic) in a 60 long with 20 other fish and they don't bother anyone to much.

 

Re: auratus question

ive been away a long time and just came back and had to get into this . the auratus can change color for two reasons one it is a male no problem two it is a female that is scared by the male in the tank and this is away for the male to leave her alone . now there is a dominance factor also if you have two or more males the dominant male will have the darker color while the other might show as a washed out brown or grey.. about stocking your tank if your just breeding them , a one to four ratio in a 20 galon tank with plenty of rocks and hides is about right but for a show tank or for dislay you can have up to 20 in your tank provided you have overkill filtration and surfice airation .been doing this a long time and have two 125display tanks with approx 100 africans of all sizes mostly in the 4 to 6 inch range im from that school that believes that if you crowd africans they become less agressive it seems to work thks ted

 

Re: auratus question

Auratus are anything but a fish to leave unattended with other fish.

They are perhaps ounce for ounce the most aggressive Mbuna of all possible species.

The Male will start to change color at somewhere around 2.5- 3 inches, at which time they will become sexually active.

At this time if you do not have a good ratio of m/f IE 1m/3-5 females there will be issues.

I would never consider placing even 1 in a tank any smaller than a 55 long.

This is just 35 years of experience talking..so take it for what its worth.

Cheers! Angus.

 

Re: auratus question

Are you trying to breed them? If not just keep the females they are much nicer looking than the males anyways. You should be able to keep 25 plus in a 4 foot long 55. Just do 25 - 50 percent water change every week. And you might want to get some dwarf mbuna species like demasoni of some of the afra's.