quicky2g - 2011-01-18 I bred these in a 29 gallon a while back with 2 females and 1 male. I got rid of that tank before college and got a few after college but didn't have great success with them. I had 2 females after college. Their color wasn't exactly what I was looking for with the mix of the rest of my fish, and the 2 females were slightly too aggressive for the rest of my fish. They are very hardy and active but I wouldn't recommend these for beginners because of the aggression. I'm not a fan of the yellow males at all.
Click For Replies (1)
Trisomy21 - 2011-05-26 Yeah I've got an adult male and he is pure evil. He's killed numerous of fellow mbuna, including females and other various fish. I've only had a couple fish stand up to him and carve out some territory in the 65 gallon. One being a Green Sunfish. I guess it depends on the fish, their attitudes vary.
Roxanne - 2010-12-31 I have a question... We have a fairly new tank and everything is great with the water and tank. We have 2 Kenyi and they were about the same size when we got them but one of them has grown almost twice the size of the other one. The small one keeps her color and stripes all the time but the large one turns almost white looking about half the time. If you feed him or play with him or her through the glass he immediately turns back to his blue with black stripes. I really don't know what to think. The water is perfect and if it were stress I would think he would not change back so easily. Could this be a male changing color? Our Kenyi haven't been very aggressive except for the plants... they love uprooting the plants.
Click For Replies (2)
matthew - 2011-03-08 It sounds to me as if you have a convict male in there, when they aren't getting along with other fish or are underfed they usually go a whiteish colour with some blue/black stripes. The white on a convict is a sign of stress. Hope this helps.
marissa - 2011-04-10 My kenyi has been doing the same thing and I think it has been changing colour to yellow, being a male. Recently he doesn't even go back to the black stripes it's more like faded stripes.
Christopher White - 2009-04-02 I have a young pair of kenyi and they have a new batch of fry about every month and a half but the male is very happy to eat them all. And he was the same color as the female until the third batch of fry then he morphed into the yellow version. The morph took about two weeks for the morph to complete.
Click For Replies (1)
marissa - 2011-04-10 How old and big was your male before he began to change yellow.... my female or at least I thought was a female, has been turning a rusty yellow color on the edges of her body. Do you think this is a male?
Jon - 2010-09-21 I agree, kenyi cichlids are not aggressive. I am keeping 4 kenyi cichlids with some angelfish in my 55 gallon tank and they get along great. I have had this set-up for a little over a year! The tank is very lively and is awesome!
Click For Replies (1)
Glan - 2010-11-18 You are doing your fish a great disservice. Angel fish like soft/more acidic water & cichlids like hard/more alkaline water. Your single anecdotal evidence is hardly worth advising others on the aggressive nature when it's been well documented by far more people that these are definitely aggressive fish (as adults). Juveniles of any cichlids are rarely aggressive.
Avery - 2010-07-25 Wow I have a female Kenyi I stole from my neighbor because of lack of feeding, dirty tank etc.. anyway.. she is sooo NOT aggressive, was actually attacked by its tankmate and won't kill or eat guppies or any other type of fish in the tank.. it now lives with a red oscar and even the oscar is the dominant one in the tank! As far as eating algae, nope won't do, had to get an algae eater.
Harvey - 2009-02-16 I have a group of Kenyi in my 120g, beautiful and entertaining fishes, that said I wouldn't agree with the opening statement of this profile: "Kenyi Cichlid is a great fish for a first time Malawi tank!" Kenyi are extremely aggressive fish, much more so then most malawis. It's actually the only malawi I have ever had that attacks even me whenever my hands get too close from his preferred cave :) Although they can't hurt a finger, they can seriously harm their tankmates if you aren't careful.
The Kenyi Cichlid is easy to please as long as its requirements are met, making it a great fish for a Malawi cichlid tank!
I bred these in a 29 gallon a while back with 2 females and 1 male. I got rid of that tank before college and got a few after college but didn't have great success with them. I had 2 females after college. Their color wasn't exactly what I was looking for with the mix of the rest of my fish, and the 2 females were slightly too aggressive for the rest of my fish. They are very hardy and active but I wouldn't recommend these for beginners because of the aggression. I'm not a fan of the yellow males at all.
Yeah I've got an adult male and he is pure evil. He's killed numerous of fellow mbuna, including females and other various fish. I've only had a couple fish stand up to him and carve out some territory in the 65 gallon. One being a Green Sunfish. I guess it depends on the fish, their attitudes vary.
I have a question... We have a fairly new tank and everything is great with the water and tank. We have 2 Kenyi and they were about the same size when we got them but one of them has grown almost twice the size of the other one. The small one keeps her color and stripes all the time but the large one turns almost white looking about half the time. If you feed him or play with him or her through the glass he immediately turns back to his blue with black stripes. I really don't know what to think. The water is perfect and if it were stress I would think he would not change back so easily. Could this be a male changing color? Our Kenyi haven't been very aggressive except for the plants... they love uprooting the plants.
It sounds to me as if you have a convict male in there, when they aren't getting along with other fish or are underfed they usually go a whiteish colour with some blue/black stripes. The white on a convict is a sign of stress. Hope this helps.
My kenyi has been doing the same thing and I think it has been changing colour to yellow, being a male. Recently he doesn't even go back to the black stripes it's more like faded stripes.
I have a young pair of kenyi and they have a new batch of fry about every month and a half but the male is very happy to eat them all. And he was the same color as the female until the third batch of fry then he morphed into the yellow version. The morph took about two weeks for the morph to complete.
How old and big was your male before he began to change yellow.... my female or at least I thought was a female, has been turning a rusty yellow color on the edges of her body. Do you think this is a male?
I agree, kenyi cichlids are not aggressive. I am keeping 4 kenyi cichlids with some angelfish in my 55 gallon tank and they get along great. I have had this set-up for a little over a year! The tank is very lively and is awesome!
You are doing your fish a great disservice. Angel fish like soft/more acidic water & cichlids like hard/more alkaline water. Your single anecdotal evidence is hardly worth advising others on the aggressive nature when it's been well documented by far more people that these are definitely aggressive fish (as adults). Juveniles of any cichlids are rarely aggressive.
Wow I have a female Kenyi I stole from my neighbor because of lack of feeding, dirty tank etc.. anyway.. she is sooo NOT aggressive, was actually attacked by its tankmate and won't kill or eat guppies or any other type of fish in the tank.. it now lives with a red oscar and even the oscar is the dominant one in the tank! As far as eating algae, nope won't do, had to get an algae eater.
I have a group of Kenyi in my 120g, beautiful and entertaining fishes,
that said I wouldn't agree with the opening statement of this profile:
"Kenyi Cichlid is a great fish for a first time Malawi tank!"
Kenyi are extremely aggressive fish, much more so then most malawis. It's actually the only malawi I have ever had that attacks even me whenever my hands get too close from his preferred cave :)
Although they can't hurt a finger, they can seriously harm their tankmates if you aren't careful.