Re: fish id, possibly Krib?     7/7/12
Aha! Thank you. These fish were in an overstocked 15 gallon and I have moved them to my 100 gallon. This Mbuna is quite bossy to the blood parrots; nipping at them.
<Is what they and most Mbuna in fact do when kept with dozy tankmates.>
Should he be removed or should we introduce another Mbuna to see if that takes his attention?
<Add another Mbuna and chance are he'll kill it. These fish are very aggressive. Melanochromis auratus are best kept in busy (some would say overstocked) systems with larger, similarly aggressive Mbuna species, for example Pseudotropheus zebra, Pseudotropheus lombardoi and Labeotropheus fuelleborni. It should not be kept with less aggressive Mbuna like Labeotropheus trewavasae or Labidochromis spp., and neither should it be kept with unaggressive Malawians, including Aulonocara spp. Of course, it can also be kept in a single-species set-up, and this is probably the idea because it's the females that are really pretty in this case. But as with other Mbuna, if you do this, keep lots of females per male because the males can be very hard on them; I'd keep 5-6 females, at least, to be honest.>
Thanks,
Kevin
<Welcome, Neale.>
Re: fish id, possibly Krib?     7/7/12
Neale,
I appreciate your input here. I believe I need to clarify my intentions a bit more. I would like to create the best environment for the Blood Parrots (if possible) without removing the Melanochromis.
<Good luck on that…>
Do you believe it is possible to keep him in the 100 gallon tank either by adding additional tankmate(s) or some other way to divert his attention from pestering the parrots?
<More shelter, cover for the Parrots may help, but Parrots are stupid and slow-moving, and being bred for looks rather than self-defence, they don't hold their own well with cichlids that evolution has hard-wired to be aggressive. Yes, 100 gallons is a fair amount of space for fish this size, and you may get lucky and find the Melanochromis auratus stays mostly at one end, and the Parrots eventually learn to stay at the other end. But that's about as well as this system/community will work.>
Perhaps adding another female of this or similar species (you mentioned below)?
<Nope. Turning this into a Mbuna aquarium has some merit, and 100 gallons gives you a decent amount of space to work with. Furthermore, some commercial aquarium providers (e.g., for airports and shopping malls) have thrown Parrots into such Mbuna systems. But these aquaria tend to be more for show than anything else, and if fish die/need replacing every few months, well that's fine because it's all covered in the monthly contract. As hobbyists, we have different standards, goals.>
Moving him to a new environment is not something that I am equipped to do and I would hate to pass him on to someone if we can avoid it.
However, I do not want to endanger the constitution of those "dumb-but-cute-looking" parrots.
<Melanochromis auratus simply isn't a species you can throw into a collection of cichlids and expect to behave itself. Adding more fish (of different species) provides more targets to be sure, and that means any one fish won't be subjected to constant aggression, in theory at least. Do read up on Melanochromis auratus; it's a well-known troublemaker, and there's a hearty literature on stocking, maintaining Malawian cichlids. Most anything by Ad Konings will set you up well, but you'll find the writings of Paul Loiselle and Mary Bailey, among others, highly relevant.>
Thanks,
Kevin
<Cheers, Neale.>
Re: fish id, possibly Krib?     7/7/12
on to more research. Thanks for the pointers and the direction!
<Most welcome. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: fish id, possibly Krib?     7/7/12
on to more research. Thanks for the pointers and the direction!
<Oh, and one quick thought. Since Melanochromis are Mbuna that rarely stray far from rocks, if you build a pile of rocks at one end with lots of hidey-holes, you may get lucky and find the Melanochromis stays more or less in that one spot, and the Parrots could move about more freely elsewhere. No guarantees though! Neale.>
Re: fish id, possibly Krib?     7/8/12
Awesome. I will give this a try! Thanks again.
<Keep a close eye on them. As I said, there's no guarantee. Cheers, Neale.>

Cichlid, ID    6/20/12
Hello crew! Everyone i talk to cannot identify this fish, i would really appreciate if you could! Thank you!
<It's a Pseudotropheus of some sort, of the type often marketed as the Pseudotropheus "Orange Blotch". Whether it's a hybrid or a true species is hard to say from a photo. Most of the ones sold in typical aquarium shops are hybrids. In any case, it'll be much like Pseudotropheus zebra in care. Needs good quality (low nitrate!) hard, alkaline water; gets to about 12-15 cm/5-6 inches in length; will be highly territorial, even psychotically aggressive; and needs to be kept in a (large) Mbuna aquarium rather than a standard community tank. Mostly herbivorous, so its diet should be based around green foods and algae-based flake, with meaty foods like bloodworms and standard flake used sparingly. Cheers, Neale.>