ruby greens

[froggy]

i have my ruby greens in a tank with a lot of rocks, but the male keeps his 6 females up in one corner, i did a bit of research and it was said not to add rocks as this makes the males more aggressive. how do others decorate there tanks for rubys?

sue

[SGypsyMermaid]

i've never kept ruby greens, but that seems very odd. are the rocks spaced far apart or are they close together? i would think that if you have a rockpile, that the females would be able to dive into them to escape the male.

[Sean]

By taking the rocks away you eliminate a specific territory for your male which sometimes works.

One thing that I use to hide the females from the males is that I get plastic plants and float them on the surface of the aquarium. It works quite well for me and I have been breeding my adult Ruby Greens in a 20 gallon high aquarium. The group consists of 1 male and 5 females.

[froggy]

It is a large rockpile, but the females never go in it, his territory is at the other end of the tank behind a ceramic pipe, i think i will try what you suggest sean, remove the rocks and add lots of plastic plants near the surface.

thanks both

sue

[Scotty]

Hey all- My Bloyeti male, (very similar to Rubys), keeps all of his female's up near the surface. Sean's suggestion works for me as well. I use water sprite in my tank. The males seem to know not to go too far though. My group is almost three years old, and the male has never killed or even really hurt any of the females. The males also seem to mellow with age, and confidence. For the first year or so, the females were always pinned up top in hiding. Now they have full use of the top half of the tank, and hover in a social group 8) The male takes a swipe once in while so they don't forget who's the boss, and will start pestering any females that are fat with eggs :roll: Just don't build your rockwork up too high, like you would for Mbuna. Hap females seem to have no interest in holding territory and will be constantly harassed if the rocks reach up near the surface.

[froggy]

:D , well i took out all the rocks and almost filled the tank with plants :lol: ,
the females are now swimming all over the tank in between the plants and the male cant control all of them at the same time, so peace reigns, for now :)

thanks folks


sue

P.s, i have an astatotilapia orange blotch holding at the mo in another tank, :D :D :D

[SGypsyMermaid]

i'll have to remember this technique. right now, the rockpiles are working for the a. aeneoclors and the hap. 44's, but if any problems develop, i'm going this route.

[froggy]

:bawl: , i had to take him out today, he was just so hyper, one of the females has had her tail badly bitten. ive put him in my odd extra males tank, he is not the boss now :wink: .

the females are cruising the tank and looking very happy. im going to give him a couple of weeks and feed up the females then try him again.

sue

[SGypsyMermaid]

good luck! :)

[Scotty]

Sue- Hey hang in there 8) Cichlids are intelligent, and somewhat unpredictable, so sometimes you need to experiment with different ideas until you hit on one that works. Also, what works for one person won't necessarily work for everyone. Here are some ideas that might work for you:

1- You never specified how big your tank was. If they're in anything less than a 30 long, your unusually agressive male might require a tank upgrade.


2- If they're in a 30 long or bigger, you can add some different mildy agressive Africans (you'll need to add some rocks back) to give the male something to do. With haps, I've found that N. lelupis, small Yellow Labs or Julidichromis species work well for this. They will also add some color and variety to your tank, and will not cross breed with your haps. Make sure the male Ruby is the biggest fish to start out.

3- Add some speedy top swimming fish like Giant Danios or Rainbows. Your females will get lost in the crowd, and the male will be less able to single them out.

4- Add some rocks back, but just to one corner of the tank. The male will tend to stay near them, and your females can go to the other side of the tank. This will allow the females to get some horizontal distance between them and grumpy :wink:

5- No matter what else you try, make sure that all of your females are fat with eggs when you put the male back. Mating with all of them in succession will hopefully wear him out enough to get over the initial introductions, and allow them to all settle in to a routine.

Good luck with them and keep us all posted......Scott 8)