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"Blue Lips" Aggression


300Magnum

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I have a small colony of Blue Lips with one really nice dominant male.  I bought them off a breeder that was closing up and moving to QLD and they are being kept in a 4 ft tank.  The issue I have is that the male is very hard on the rest of the group.  There was originally 2 males and 6 females, but the dominant male has now killed the other male and 2 of the females.  The last one was today.....I fed them in the morning and all of them looked healthy and were eating well.  I go out this afternoon and one of the femaies is dead while one of the other females has a very large mouth full.  I can only assume that the male stressed out the other female and killed her off in his efforts to breed.  Interested to hear other peoples experience with these guys.

 

I do have some smaller ones growing out which I got from Lithoman, but they are not quite big enough yet to mix them in with the rest of the group.

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hi mate

the dom male is hard on females and other males

but i have had very little die from it

i have a tank atm as far as i know atleast 7 boys all 7-10cm and no real aggression   4ft

Something else maybe worng

unless u seeing them all beaten up and dead

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They have a real reputation for aggression.  They are a large, very solidly built fish, that packs quite a bit of punch.  Couple that with the typical mbuna temperament, and they can do a decent amount of damage to another fish in a short space of time.  From my experience, they are relatively mild mannered as younger fish.  The problems start as they mature.  A lot of people have bred them successfully two or three times, only to have their colonies implode.  I suggest that's why they still aren't that common in the hobby.

To be kept successfully longer-term, I suggest they need a large tank with a decent amount of structure in it, to break up line-of-sight from different sections of the tank, and to provide refuges for hammered fish.  Basically, you need to invoke all of the strategies available to combat aggression.  For this reason I've been suggesting to people that this species isn't a  good option for newer cichlid keepers.  Its a great fish though, and well worth the challenge for people with a bit of experience.

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thanks for the responses.  The male is definately hassling everything in the tank.....he always has his golden breeding dress on and goes around trying to breed with everything (including the holding female).  At this stage, 4 ft is the largest tank that I can house them in, so I have put some more structure in the tank and will keep an eye on things.

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I already have 6 medium sized red empress in there that I am growing out.  I will see how they go.  I also have 4 smaller blue lips (around 5cm) but I think they are too small to risk putting in.

I have to say that the male blue lips does look great in his full colouration (which he seems to have the majority of the time).

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