I need male to female comparisons for O.B. Zebra
- Thread starter PatrickTheArowana
- Start date
i have several OB (red zebra variant-not peacock) in my 180, and i can tell you they are quite dominant. If you dont like the fish, i suggest you get rid of it, and when you do-another fish in the tank will fight for being the alpha-its just the way africans are. they establish their own hierarchy in the tank, and until they do they will fight over it-once your alpha is established it will chase others out of its territory. i have had a blueberry OB (zebra) try to dominate HALF of my 180 gallon tank! she is the queen, and she is my alpha girl and nooone challenges her anymore haha..
but, she also doesnt beat anyone up or do any damage so i keep her in there.
as far as the spitting rocks, i have seen mbuna gather mouthfuls of sand, come up from the rock and spit it all over everything-they arent aiming at other fish. they are just trenching out their "territory".
africans are quite aggressive, and you wont have a completely peaceful tank-youll always have little spats and liplocking-its just norm for them.
but, she also doesnt beat anyone up or do any damage so i keep her in there.
as far as the spitting rocks, i have seen mbuna gather mouthfuls of sand, come up from the rock and spit it all over everything-they arent aiming at other fish. they are just trenching out their "territory".
africans are quite aggressive, and you wont have a completely peaceful tank-youll always have little spats and liplocking-its just norm for them.
PatrickTheArowana;2128111; said:
i have mixed mbuna 
if you look closely you will even see new batch of ob blotch babies..navygirl76;2128350; said:
Yeah I know these fish are aggressive mel,and I know about the hierarchy deal too.But this OB just doesn't stop.It'll chase every fish,except my male auratus around non stop all day,all night long,even during feeding time.I swear instead of eating during feeding time it's chasing all the fish around,and most all of the time misses out on the meal.It seemed adding more fish made the OB more aggressive than less as the theory goes.
I gave the OB a couple of weeks to see if it was going to stop and relax.But it had it's chance and now it's in the 20gal with the other mean OB albino.I saw the OB albino acting like a complete ass to every fish on the right side of the tank and just decided to pull it out as well.I'm going to leave them in the 20gal until I find out what I'm going to do with them.
I like zebras and I have 2 cobalts and 2 reds that are still in my 125gal that are not nearly as aggressive.And I don't mind the fighting.Or the fact that one or two fish don't get along.But I don't like it when a fish is constantly pounding every fish in the tank.I don't think anyone does.
Red Devil;2128700; said:
See,watching that video,your tank was pretty calm.I didn't see one fish swimming around trying to bite every fishes fins off.If I was to record my tank right now with that OB in still in there,all you would see is it chasing fish back and forth,back and forth.
PatrickTheArowana;2128939; said:
maybe you do not have enough fish to ease the aggression..africans are the only ones i found that a few more fish are better then a few less... but you know your limits too.. with more fish ...more water changes are nessasary... but right now and for the past year i have had no fights or aggression..as you can see i even have babies that they do not bother...another thing is to have lots of nooks and crannies for them to hide in... more the better. Africans do chase...normal...ganging up and stressing another one to death... is not acceptable...
Red Devil;2128952; said:
Yeah I have tons of nooks and crannies and about 30 fish in the 125gal now.I also do two 25% water changes a week.And when I do the water changes I rearange all the rock work so that it's never the same.I have babies or very small africans in there too.And they do pretty well except for when that OB is out and about the tank,which is just about most of the time messing with them.
I remember when I had my old large socolofi.He was the king of the tank.He was the best fish I ever had because he had the tank nice and peacful.Even the ob that I just took out was under his authority.The coolest thing about him was that he was fair.He didn't pick on anyone just for the hell of it.And if he saw a fight breaking out,that was getting out of control,he would break it up.But he died of bloat.Man I miss that fish.
How many africans can you put into a 125gal btw??
PatrickTheArowana;2128981; said:Yeah I have tons of nooks and crannies and about 30 fish in the 125gal now.I also do two 25% water changes a week.And when I do the water changes I rearange all the rock work so that it's never the same.I have babies or very small africans in there too.And they do pretty well except for when that OB is out and about the tank,which is just about most of the time messing with them.
I remember when I had my old large socolofi.He was the king of the tank.He was the best fish I ever had because he had the tank nice and peacful.Even the ob that I just took out was under his authority.The coolest thing about him was that he was fair.He didn't pick on anyone just for the hell of it.And if he saw a fight breaking out,that was getting out of control,he would break it up.But he died of bloat.Man I miss that fish.
How many africans can you put into a 125gal btw??
well is tank nice and peaceful now with out the OB zebra... maybe he is just an outlaw type... all fish do have their own unique personality.. i have had to move a couple to other tanks through the years... usually because they were picked on... shy non agressive types... but i do have one african... that absolutely cannot make it in any african tanks... he went into my 220gal with my two huge pacus... he was their baby..all was peacefull...the tank had an electrical fire and exploded ..i lost the pacus but i was able to save the african... i added him to another african tank...same thing... horid.... attacks everyone... quess where he lives now... with Red Devil for over a year now..they are buddies... he is one tough african.. i will post his pic later.. maybe you have one like him
Red Devil;2129058; said:well is tank nice and peaceful now with out the OB zebra... maybe he is just an outlaw type... all fish do have their own unique personality.. i have had to move a couple to other tanks through the years... usually because they were picked on... shy non agressive types... but i do have one african... that absolutely cannot make it in any african tanks... he went into my 220gal with my two huge pacus... he was their baby..all was peacefull...the tank had an electrical fire and exploded ..i lost the pacus but i was able to save the african... i added him to another african tank...same thing... horid.... attacks everyone... quess where he lives now... with Red Devil for over a year now..they are buddies... he is one tough african.. i will post his pic later.. maybe you have one like him
Yeah it's nice and peacful now.The little guys are now able to show off there sparring skill with one another,they never got the chance with that OB in there.I've had africans for over a year now and I've seen can tell you that this Ob is just an ***-bag.I'm gald he or she's out!
Really it is just africans being africans... I have a few that go through times when they will chase everything and anything in the tank. The type of mbuna you mentioned are the ones that seem to do that the most. Have no fear, I would not have taken him out, I would have add more friends...
