Saulosi

[MapleNeil]

Hi,
I wanted to start an mbuna aquarium, and decided on Saulosi because:

• two nice colors in one species
  Less aggressive
  Small size more suitable for my tank size

I had to order online since they weren't available locally, and requested a mix of males and females buy im concerned they are all actually male. two are yellow and 4 are blue
Size: 2 to 2.5 inches
Here is a picture of one of the yellow ones. What do you think?

 

[MapleNeil]

Also, their mouths are always opening and closing which looks like they might be in some distress? Or is that normal?
Water parameters
78F
Ph 7.8 to 8.0
Kh 100
Gh 130
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20ppm

 

[charliebankston]

It's hard to tell as juveniles, because they are yellow like the females. But just hazarding a wild guess, I'd say that one in the pic is male also.

 

[charliebankston]

What size tank? And how long have you had them?

 

[MapleNeil]

I just got them yesterday. Requested 2m 4f. Its a 29g and wanted to have a species tank and these seemed like the most suitable mbuna species. But 6 males.... omg they were expensive too and I will probably have to give them away. No more online fish buying for me

 

[charliebankston]

That stinks. Sorry about the ratio. They didn't guarantee any females? The gaspy breathing could just be stress from shipping. I'd give them a day or two and see if it gets better

 

[MapleNeil]

No.... I requested 2m4f but didn't require it since inqasnt sure if they were old enough to be sexable. Since he had a new batch of 50 in stock I assumed if sexable, he would have enough females. Apparently someone more important got thr females.
Anyway, now they have ick.
They don't seem very aggressive, all swimming around playing together in the filter outflow. Maybe 6 males will work? Or should I not even try. I'm not interested in torturing fish lol but the stores all list 29g as minimum for dwarf mbuna so it seemed reasonable.

 

[charliebankston]

Cure the ich and try it. Might work. With cichlids it's always hit or miss. Just have a back up plan in case they get older and mean