Just when you thought that wild caught Petrochromis Kazumbe(s) were the terrors of the aquarium, well you are in for a big surprise. Petrochromis sp Red Dorsal Rainbow Macrognathus Kipili , these are truly the crazies of the petrochromis world in the aquarium. I don’t know what goes on in the wild (the loser probably escapes the area with a stiff lip and his pride hurt)  but once these WC crazies are housed in the aquarium all bets are off.
 
      I had 2 trios Red Dorsal Rainbows(4 to  inches) in a 240 gallon tank with two trios of  Texas Bulu Points and some Texas Tembwe Famula. The alpha Red Dorsal Rainbow male was chasing everything in site even his own shadow.  This Red Dorsal was truly a “Serial Killer”. Two Texas Bulu Points,  one Texas Tembwe Famula and one Red Dorsal male. Then just like that he stopped killing anything else in the tank.   There has not been another victim for the last 40 days.

     I also have Kasumbe Rainbows and Kasumbe in general are known to be one of the reigning kings of terror in the petrochromis world.  So while running short of tanks I placed the Kasumbe in with the Red Dorsal Macros. Having plenty of water flow in he tank, I was not too concerned about too much aggression.  Perhaps in retrospect this was a very bad decision.

    In “ROUND ONE” the alpha Kasumbe male established a territory at one end of the tank where a single large rock was. At the other end of the tank  there were many scurmishes where there was a  5 to 6 rocks in a pile.
After a few days, things settle down a bit the alpha Red Dorsal Macro established himself as the ruler of the rock pile.
 
   “ROUND TWO” was just about to start. Slowly but surly the Red Dorsal Macro started to venture deeper and deeper into the Kasumbe territory. In the beginning the Kasumbe would just chase the Red Dorsal Macro away.

   Two weeks later “ROUND THREE” was about to start. The Red Dorsal Macro was not retreating anymore. So a fight for the Kasumbe territory was about to begin. There were a few lip locks and flips. The kasumbe gave up his territory and retreated to the other end of the tank. So the Red Dorsal Macro gave up one area only to claim another. So he became the alpha male of the tank.

    So much for the tough guy on the block called Kasumbe. These Red Dorals have a real nasty temperament and would advise people to think twice about housing these guys in the aquarium.

     I now keep 13 Red Dorsal Macros in a 150 gallon tank (6 footer). I have a Koralia 6 (2200 GPH) for water current. This is enough to keep the aggression to a controllable level. So we shall see if this setup works.  Well I have taken out all of the rock work, changed half of the water,

And finally started introducing the petros to this tank. First I added 11 Kaiser Famula, an hour later I added Rainbow Kasumbe and finally the
Red Dorsal Kipili Macros. After 2 days I have lost 2 Red Dorsal Kipili. After 6 weeks no additional loses.

    Hopefully I can now take a short breather LOL….  Enjoy your petros and once again always be prepared to take out that wounded petro.

                                                                                         
                                                                                     GOOD LUCK