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My
very first African (along with an electric blue hap) is
understandably my beloved fish. When I bought it little did I know
about aggression but it taught me the basics in no time at all. I
initially acquired a couple (or so it seemed) but it turned out to
be two males. After a couple of weeks one of them was dead. I then
bought two more females and now life is much easier. In contrast to
most mbuna, the male is the yellow fish and the female is the blue
one (with dark blue vertical bands). The fish is very aggressive (even by mbuna
standards) - even the females are intolerant of each other. It is better to have a tank dedicated to mbuna and house more
than a couple of aggressive species in there (other Pseudotropheus
like zebras or Melanochromis species). This is the only way to have
some milder species in the same tank. It will defend its spawning
site ferociously and will even attack your hand or the glass
scrapping magnet when it comes close to its territory.
With
the right kind of food it acquires a very bright yellow color,
equivalent to the labidos. Grows to 12 cm or more and occasionally
feeds on algae. It will eat as much as offered and lose the right
shape becoming more "rounded". Do not overfeed. Among all
the mbuna species I keep it is the most sensitive to the presence of
carbon dioxide in the water. As with all Africans it is an extremely
intelligent fish. Despite its aggression it is a playful little guy.
Whenever I put my hands in the water, it will immediately attack me
as an invitation for play ! I try to catch its tail and it tries to
avoid it. Every time I catch its tail, it will just move away as if
insulted. Once we start playing it simply tried to avoid the fingers
without any biting.
Minimum
tank size : 150 cm / 500 liters, no second male will survive in
anything smaller than 200 cm / 700 liters.
 Another nice article about
M. lombardoi, by Matthew Childers can be found at
http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1178
See
next page for
photos of male and female Pseudotropheus lombardoi |
