Requesting male auratus care tips & comptatibility.

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Dez

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 9, 2007
171
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Canada
'Ello all.

Title pretty much states what I'm looking for. Will be getting a 60gal tank with a pleco and a male auratus from work, but the tank is very empty and boring as is. I know auratus are aggressive and I've seen him show it in the past, but he also lived peacefully with a few other cichlids his size and a large blood parrot for a few years. Mind you, he did chase them a bit, but they lasted quite a while and nobody lost any fins in all that time.

I'm new to cichlids and am a novice fish keeper in general, but I'm willing to do the work necessary to have a nice, healthy tank community. So what should I know about caring for an auratus? Considering my manager who knows nothing of fish keeping or pets in general has been tending to the tank for years and he's still alive, I assume they are fairly hardy.

As well as, what other fish can be kept with him, and how many should I go for? I would love nothing more than to have senegalus, rope fish, eels or anything snake-like in my tank, but this is a dream I'll seemingly never fulfill given my luck with the fish I end up with lol. So I'm open to suggestions. What about loaches, snails, things like that? He's been alone aside from the pleco for a long time, so should I expect to have to follow some kind of procedure in introducing him to new tankmates? Such as, perhaps, removing him and letting them all settle, then putting him back as the new guy?

TIA
 
I guess the lack of replies means I'm **** out of luck with this guy :ROFL:

Who knew such a small fish could be so problematic.
 
I hate those fish, they are mean as hell and you will probably have hard time introducing fish to that tank since it the only cichlid. You woumd probably be better off to give that fish away

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I've thought about that too, but I'm kind of attached to him, he's been around since I started working here pretty much. And I have no idea who I'd give him to if even I can't place him ina tank with other fish :(
 
You can keep other Mbuna with him, if you set up a massive rock formation, that provides 2-3 hiding places for each fish, and lots of line of site breaks, and lots of fish. This will spread out the aggression and allow the fish he has chosen to pick on to get away. You'll want to make sure your piles are sturdy, because they will be run into. Rearranging every 6 months or so may be necessary, which helps to curb the territorial aggression, since the territories are always changing. The only problem about setting this up, is it allows for hiding places for babies if you get some female fish, so they wont all get eaten. You will want to put some eggcrate on the glass on the bottom, Mbuna like to dig, and if your rock stacks are resting on the substrate they will fall, which is bad all around. Make sure to have some sections of sand, the digging helps to reduce the aggression towards each other. I have kept really agressive Mbuna like Chipokea, Kenyi, and Demasoni with more timid ones like yellow labs and red zebras this way.
 
Thanks for the tips. I may move him to a smaller tank to be on his own should I decide to turn the 60gal into an eel tank, but if that doesn't work out I can give your advice a shot :) Much appreciated. He seems to be quite happy on his own at any rate, so we'll see what happens.
 
You could always add six or more females for him to chase around. My experience with auratus is that they are mean SOB's but it would make for a colourful tank with a bunch females swimming about with him.
 
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