Demasoni tank mates Question

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

Hey guys, I was thinking of getting some demasoni.. I wanted to know if they would get a long with all Africans, like Malawi's,Victorians.. My Malawi's are all around 3-5 inches long, and I also have 3 yellow labs, and Acei, and one Victorians, and 2 tropheus moori, yellow tail and moolri moori.. All are happy and swim and i've had no problems.. I have read that demasoni's need to be purchased with at least 10+ and have to have a high female to male ratio.. My question is, how can I tell the difference with them being juveniles? I don't want to ruin my current pecking order and cause havok because I love my setup now but I wanted to possibly add these guys, but i've read that they are extremely aggressive..

Let me know thanks you guys rock,,

 

[joel618]

They are extremely aggressive and will attack other blue fish from what I have read. How big is your tank?The only way to tell is to vent them at sexual maturity.

 

[Jmedic25]

I dont agree about the extremely aggressive, but Joel is right about that is what some sources say. Now, they do show conspecific aggression. So blue stripped fish or other dems will get picked on. These males need at least 4 females. If your tank is crowded your better off. I wouldnt say that a Dem is worse than an Auratus, Bumble bee, or Johanni. But more like a smaller fiester red zebra. But not downright homocidal. If by some chance you get an F0 or F1 dem...You could have a killer on your hands...LOL They are small but bad to the bone...Also the most beautiful fish in my tank.

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

Haha awesome..how can u tell between male and females

 

[Jmedic25]

You need to vent them when they get mature. But the brighter larger ones are usually male.

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

I have 3 to 4 malwais 3 to 4 inches long mostly blue..the king in my tank is the cobalt..I also have dubosis and aceis and 4 Frontosas all happy no issues..how many should I get uu think

 

[Jmedic25]

Hmmmm...I wouldnt put dems in with Fronts...Stripes and slow...I love frontosa but they dont belong in a malawi tank in my opinion, they may have problems in the future as your Malawi fish grow

 

[got-to-love-Chiclids]

I have one holding and yes you need to vent them because there will be one alpha male who will end up running everything and start picking on the other males for breeding rights so the other males try to match the females to blend in its pretty funny to watch They look the same so u just catch him then lightly pick him up and look under the anal fin 2 small holes is a male a big hole and a small hole is a female

 

[joel618]

All this talk of dems has me on the "buy" screen of a website wanting to get a group of 15.

 

[got-to-love-Chiclids]

All this talk of dems has me on the "buy" screen of a website wanting to get a group of 15.

That is the way to go!

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

lol I know right.. I was thinking of getting 6 today..or should I get more to reduce the aggression?

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

thanks for all the great advice..

 

[joel618]

lol I know right.. I was thinking of getting 6 today..or should I get more to reduce the aggression?

More. No less then 10-12

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

ah really ? 10.. do u think it would be odd to ask the petstore to let me examine each fish to look at there anal to see if they have two big holes or 1 big and one small? lol or just try my best to see which juvenile is the brightest for males and less bright for females?

 

[joel618]

ah really ? 10.. do u think it would be odd to ask the petstore to let me examine each fish to look at there anal to see if they have two big holes or 1 big and one small? lol or just try my best to see which juvenile is the brightest for males and less bright for females?

I can't link on my phone but cichlid-forum.com has a good article about them. Check it out. Google "demasoni cichlid profile." Should be one of the first few links.

 

[got-to-love-Chiclids]

ah really ? 10.. do u think it would be odd to ask the petstore to let me examine each fish to look at there anal to see if they have two big holes or 1 big and one small? lol or just try my best to see which juvenile is the brightest for males and less bright for females?

Lol I have done it before but if ur going to breed them get them from different places to reduce the chance of inbreeding

 

[kay-bee19]

I have read that demasoni's need to be purchased with at least 10+ and have to have a high female to male ratio.. My question is, how can I tell the difference with them being juveniles?

In my experience (at least with keeping a demasoni colony 25-30 strong for 6+ years) gender ratio isn't much of a factor. Assuming an approximate 50:50 gender ratio (say 12-15 males) the numbers make it difficult for a single male to dominate all of the others. Male A may dominate Male B who in turn can dominate Male C who can dominate Male A, etc. Also females are aggressive in their own right. So even in a colony 12 strong comprised of 1m/11f will have female vs female strife (and female vs male strife in a full grown female vs immature male scenario). But again, their numbers will provide protection against a particular demasoni being singled out.

With that said, the smaller colony the more influence the dominant male(s) will have.

...i've read that they are extremely aggressive...

They reserve the worst of their aggression towards their own kind (which gets amplified when kept in numbers less than 10-12). They can 'get along' with mbuna's of other color schemes, but may also be apt to give similarly or remotely black/blue vertially striped mbuna's the same treatment that they usually reserve for other demasoni's (however more aggressive species fitting this description can handle demasoni's):

In a 125gal containing various mbuna species, my single demasoni would specifically harass this labidochromis sp. mbamba (mildy aggressive species which would lose the stripes and shift to solid purple to avoid demasoni wrath):

This extremely aggressive Black-barred Zebra (Luwino Reef) rules supreme in a 75gal containing over two dozen demasoni's: