Kenyi

[SKISWETPETS]

He wants to breed, If he's that bad.

I hope your right about that, he seems like he is ready, just after chasing them back to the side, he will head to one specific cave usually. We will see.

[Super Turtleman]

The time to rape & pillage is coming...beware!!!

[SKISWETPETS]

Okay, the Kenyi group, of 1 male and 3 female in my heavily caved 55 not a good thing. You guys were right. I did find out the hard way i believe. At first it really wasn't so bad. But as of late all the male would do is chase the females from the top or middle of the tank to the bottom. One of the females got sick, sorta developed a red stipe down the middle of her. So i moved her, and today to the garbage.  Medication and salt didn't help. I just put the other two females back into my 120 with the very sub-dominant male. I left the large beautiful male in the 55 by him self for now.  How the hell do people breed the Kenyi???

[Ron]

How the hell do people breed the Kenyi???

A slightly larger tank would be a good starting point - 6'+ would be better. You've got to go with either lots of rock work to make the tank into a maze or keep it bare, so there's nothing really for one dominant fish to stake claim to and defend against the others.

Overcrowding is also a good tactic provided you're filters and tank husbandry (frequent, large water changes) are up to it. For example, if you put that 1m/3f in a bare 125 gallon (6' tank) you'd probably still lose a female at some point. If you upped the amount to 1m/15f, there'd be enough females that the amount of hassle they'd get individually is a lot less and all would be fine for a long time. Say you couldn't find that many females, 1m/3f in with about 25-30 other mbuna of types that would be unlikely to cross with each other and there'd be so many fish, it'd be hard for the male to single one out (even the females) and beat the snot out of it.

Overall IMO they are not really bad fish. People find them at the LFS before they know what they are getting into and put them in too small of tanks. Once the fish grow up a bit, they then get a bad rap on the internet. 

[SKISWETPETS]

Thank you Ron, right now i have in my 120 6ft tank.  4 Venustus "sex still unsure" , 3 Auratus female's, 3 Red zebra. 2F/1M, and now the 3 kenyi, 1Sub-dominant male/2female.  Im not sure it would be a good idea to put the Dominant Male Kenyi back in that tank with the crowd. It is heavily rocked up, with pvc caves, and flower pots.What would your opinion be here.
Thanks
SKI,

[Ron]

It is heavily rocked up, with pvc caves, and flower pots.What would your opinion be here.

Picture?

What size are the other fish and what size is the dominant male?

IMO, the 2 male kenyi won't coexist long term. Best case they'd split the tank in half, 3' sections with good aquascaping, but those chances aren't great IMO. If you have somewhere else to keep him, I'd error to keeping the 1m/2f group in the 120 and find somewhere else for the dominant male if possible.

FWIW, auratus are another species that gets a bad rap for the same reasons as kenyi. The Melanochromis genus in general is among the most aggressive of the mbuna.

[Frenchie]

I always had 1 male and about 6 females. Had one or two holding all the time. In a 125 gal tank. With Front's and other Haps.

[SKISWETPETS]

Ron, i will try to get some pics up soon. Just because even. For now im gonna just keep the Beautiful dominant male seperate. He would almost be the largest in the tank. Probly close to 4 inches, maybe 3 1/2. The rest of the fish are just a bit smaller. The Male Red Zebra is about the same size, or very close. Suppose i will hope for the sub-dom. male will have his fun with one.

And to you Frenchie, i wish had about 6 females. Unfortunately i don't. Nor can i get them up here anyway. It will just have to wait. Oh well, at least i do have the great lookin male..

[SKISWETPETS]

Here is a few closer pics of the tank Ron FWIW. Just to see the setup...