luis Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 What does this look like, to those more experienced in venting? It's one of my Pseudotropheus saulosi.Apologies for the fuzzy pic--I should've thought about better lighting when I was doing this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malawi sand diver Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Hi Luis - defintiely a female.Regards, Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luis Posted February 1, 2014 Author Share Posted February 1, 2014 Thanks Rob, that's what I thought...To give a bit more detail: I've had her since May 2012 and was 99% certain it was a she, but recent events made me start to doubt.Basically I removed the dominant male from the tank around 6 months ago and this female, who became the largest fish in the tank, started to act very dominant towards the other females and also the sole remaining male.She often displays faint black bars and black edging on the pelvic fins, and the other day she must've gotten into one heck of a fight because her fins were in pretty rough shape (she is now isolated so I took the opportunity to vent). There's also been no spawning since this happened. Guess I should've kept on to the other male...Sadly I only have a 3ft tank with 1m/3f so if it turns out this fish is incompatible with the remaining 3 I am going to have a hard time replacing her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFishkeeper Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Hi Luis,It is not unusual for a dominant female mbuna to show a fainter version of male colouration and become aggressively territorial. I have experienced this myself with saulosi and other mbuna and I'm sure I recall reading mention of this in the wild also in one of Ad Koning's books.Cheers, Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malawi sand diver Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Sounds like they are hen pecked. Maybe u need get a stronger male for her? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luis Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hmmm, that might be the way to go but I reckon I will first try reintroducing this female after she heals fully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luis Posted February 19, 2014 Author Share Posted February 19, 2014 I placed her back in the main tank today. 30 seconds later, this is happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malawi sand diver Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Tough love.. She looks like a nice healthy female though. Might be good to keep an eye out for a bigger male for her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbuna Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 You could try rearranging the rock work to change territories... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luis Posted February 21, 2014 Author Share Posted February 21, 2014 Thanks guys. I blacked out the tank for a day or so and haven't seen any serious disputes since.Rearranging rocks is quite a challenge for me, there aren't many ways that I can fit these large rocks in a small tank like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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