Melanochromis maingano

[fozziwozzi]

Hello everyone.

I have been keeping fish for a while now mainly discus, community fish and planted tanks. I have been interested in cichlids and am interested in starting to keep some cichlids and moving away from community fish.

My question is after visiting my LFS I found that Melanochromis maingano really struck my eye, and was wondering if these are a hard fish to keep? So if any of you have or are keeping this type cichlid could you share with me some of your experiences? What price should I expect to pay for them?

Thanks

[Sarah]

i personally have not kept them but have heard they are not as aggressive as many other melanochromis species and if you purchase them privately you can expect to pay anything from $5-10 each for fry

cheers

Sarah

[Newo]

I keep them.

I've only had mine a week though.

Got them off a mate.

Atm they are around 4cm... one already has a mouthful!

They are very friendly and swarm to the front of the tank whenever someone is in the room (and yes they are being fed enough ).

I have 17 in a 4x2x2.

With 10 yellows and 6 Red Emp.

Its just perth water with Limestone rock. Im guessing the ph is around 7.5 - 8ish from the test colour. I havnt got the colour chart for the tester.

They dont seem to stress out over much, they arn't skitish at all and I havnt killed them yet and im fairly new on the fish scene. :

They seem to get on with the yellows just fine... I have noticed the males circling each other... perhaps they are sizing each other up. From what I have read aggression is only directed towards males of their own species.

Here's a pic of them in my tank

My four foot tank

[TropheusQueen]

Hi,

M. maingano are not difficult fish to keep but like most members of this family do present with aggression when in spawn trim.

If alone in a species tank make sure male to female ration is appropriate - 1 male to 4-5 females works well. Provide good cover.

My orginal male who is now over a year old is about 12cm in length and is being kept in a community tank till the rest of the colony reaches a similar size. These fish are striking in colour presenting almost an indigo/purple when mating.

I am sure that you will enjoy them if these are your choice. I also breed Ps. demasoni who are similar in vibrant blue/purple colour - but this is where the similarity ends. These fish are much smaller when adult and are exceptionally cranky, however I wouldn't have them any other way .

Cheers

[fozziwozzi]

Thanks for everyones help!!!

I am still researching into this type of fish and other types too.

[urodacus]

G'day

I bred maingano for a while when i first started getting back into cichlids. I had 6 in a 2x2x18" tank (i know it sounds small) without any aggression problems what so ever. Ratio was 3M and 3F. This wasnt the best, but atleast the extra males kept the dominant male off the females backs when they were holding. I was getting batches of 30 odd fry. Heaps of rockwork with atleast 1 large cave for the male to claim worked well for me.

Cheers

Jordan

[onlyme]

I think this general conception about Melanochromis species and agression is wrong. I keep interruptus and exasperatus without difficulty. So much of the literature, eg, Louiselle is questionable. Auratus carry on amongst the females a bit and it would appear chipokeae are difficult at times but nowhere near as bad as blue Labs or kribs.

Craig.

[private rich]

I have 10 mainganoes

They have alot of black spots under their mouth, does anybody know if this is normal or should i do something about it?