melanachromis auratus

picked up a male at a place for pets today,,, he imediately started the mating dance with my female,,, she wasn't as enthused.

Who's in the tank with them Aaron?

Betty keeps these as well, I believe.

I used to have one but decided I had too aggressive fish for my tank footprint and preferred to keep the chipokae.

I have one male left, but I used to keep these in large numbers. The males are so aggressive, that it's best to keep several females per male. I actually had one male that spawned with a female and a couple of hours later I found him eating her. He had ripped out her throat area, all of the eggs were gone, and she was dead. They did okay as a group -- I had about 15 of them. And I have had a couple of males that were actually good citizens and didn't bother anybody.

I hope you got a nice one! Good luck. I think they are a nice looking fish and have always liked them.

wow , I am seeing the male aggression already, since she showed no interest in spawning he's now relentlessly chasing her, if he keeps it up he's going in the community mbuna tank

Their aggression shrinks in a heavily stocked Mbuna tank. I always kept Auratus without issue (well, besides the non-stop spawning).

Aaron, I suspect you'll definitely need a harem for him - at least 3 females, 4 to 6 would be better.

I am seeing where a group of females would handle his affections better than a single female