Who Gives A Fish Forums

I've got 5 Mbuna juveniles in my tank, and I'm pretty sure they were born this year. They were tiny when I first got them, so I'm not sure of their exact age, but I'm guessing they're around 6-8 months old.

The largest one is around 2-2.5 inches long, and it's still a really dark colour - even the dorsal fin is dark, with no sign of yellow or any barred stripes.

The others are smaller, but they're already showing some nice striped patterning on their bodies and sometimes on their faces too. However, the stripes are dark brown against a lighter body colour, and the dorsal fins are yellow, but there's no blue colouration on their bodies at all.

Can you tell the difference between males and females when they're still juveniles? And at what age can I expect to see that strong blue colour start to emerge?

Also, will all the males develop their colours, or is it just the alpha male that gets to show off?

Were they pulled out of a mixed malawi tank when you bought them, and are you absolutely certain they're 100% jalo's? It's definitely possible for young juveniles to display different colouration between males and females. Even at a very young age, mbuna exhibit aggression towards each other, and with no dominant male present, the females will still hold dominance.

The dynamics will change depending on how many males you have - if you've got two, one will become the dominant alpha male, and the other will be a sub-dominant male. In my experience, it's best to keep either one male or three or more, as having just two males can lead to the sub-dominant male being killed or not reaching his full potential.

Thanks for the input,
I'm fairly confident they're all as they should be, got them from a reputable dealer and all that.

I'll definitely keep in mind your advice on the male numbers, to be honest I'm not entirely sure how many males I've got at the moment, but it's definitely possible it's just the two.

When can I expect to see them start colouring up with the blue, though?