The most aggressive African cichlid
- Thread starter Jacolby
- Start date
I would put the auratus higher than the zebra, but my red zebra runs the tank.
Over the few years of that tank, the meanest mbuna he’s been with have been auratus, johanni, crabro, kenyi, red zebra, and demansoni. He dominates over all of them, and has aided in the murder of most.
Pound for pound he is probably my meanest fish (though my leporinus could shred him if put together).
Over the few years of that tank, the meanest mbuna he’s been with have been auratus, johanni, crabro, kenyi, red zebra, and demansoni. He dominates over all of them, and has aided in the murder of most.
Pound for pound he is probably my meanest fish (though my leporinus could shred him if put together).
Never knew leporinus were that nasty but again idk about leporinus. Yea, I've had similar experiences with my dominant male auratus. In the end, I kept him as a wet pet in a 30 gal all by himself which Imo is probably the safest way to keep one. I've tried kenyi, crabro, demansoni, and even some nasty tanganyikans but he played a role in all their deaths.
My zebra plays nice with a select few, it’s more of the subdominant ones that are likely to attack newcomers.
Leporinus aren’t crazy with meaner fish, but if they have an opportunity to be in charge, they will run a tank like a large CA cichlid. Mine currently is the dominant fish in his tank, but the parrot is getting ballsy. Biggest kill track record of all my fish.
Read stuff about the dhonti and chrystii of tanganyika on earlier posts. Not sure how they'd compare to 5 star jewels and larger melanochromises in terms of the worst cichlid under a foot. In a smaller tank, they may be the worst given their hardware that can easily take chunks out of larger fish. However, in a larger tank, I would not bet against a 8" large chipokae which could swim circles against other cichlids and continue to harass them until they drop of damage/stress. Kaskazini seem to be even better swimmers but apparentely chipokae get even larger? Melanochromis robustus is said to get to 20 cm in the wild, larger than kaskazini/chipokae which get to 17/18 cm. That may be the worst small cichlid out there.
Intresting hearing everyone's point of view and experience. Weirdly enough, my kenyi was probably one of the least agressive Africans I have had. I have a breeding pair of red zebra, and they are pretty nasty when breeding. Most aggressive in the tank though has to be my crabro. Started off with a pair, they spawned with about 5 males and I think 2 to 3 females. They have been picking each other off one by one, replacing each other as the dominant fish. The ones I have had will hit anything that moves. They have killed off a good number of fish, including a nice venustus I had.
I feel like once you get into mbuna, they all are nasty, but there are a few species that just really stand out, like auratus, zebra, crabro, and kenyi.
My zebra was my meanest until the auratus recently took the dominant spot. He is ruthless, hasn’t killed anyone yet, but in the few short days he’s been in charge, he has made it quite known.
My zebra was my meanest until the auratus recently took the dominant spot. He is ruthless, hasn’t killed anyone yet, but in the few short days he’s been in charge, he has made it quite known.
I think a full grown dhonti male can easily stand its ground against any cichlid that can't swallow it at one gulp. And they can reach up to 17 cm / 7 inch. At least thats the biggest I know in person.
But they are not really aggressive towards other species. Which will not stop them from ruling a whole tank just by their presence.
Some young dhonti female offspring from the above mentioned 17 cm male.
