Since the question is "can I" I would say yes you can do what ever you want they're your fish. If you asked "should I" or "would you" you would get a completly different answer.
Can I keep mbuna's with my red devil?
- Thread starter CichlidsRock47
- Start date
You do know that most mbuna are vegatarians and the rd is a carnivore? With that said the Africans attack and run and the rd will swallow them if they are small enough. You'll either have dead mbuna from bloat or the rd killing them or your rd will have shredded fins. Go way to bring on a good bout of ich with all the stress in the tank but its your tank.
I once tried that and my red devil almost died. Luckily he survived and is in good health now, but I personally wouldn't try it. It could work depending on your red devil's personality and the africans that you buy. I wouldn't do it, but it might work.
That depends on the Africans..
As stated above, you can, but probably shouldn't. Different diet and water parameters. I use the same tap water in both my 300 CE/SA community and my 135 Malawi community. 300 is full of wood and the 135 is full of fieldstone. The 300 sits around 7.5-7.6 and the 135 sits about 8.3-8.3.
Vegetarians vs carnivores, etc.
I have kept RDs with africans a couple times. it usually works well. just provide hiding spots . the occasional african will go down. but a nice school will make it for the most part. good luck.
Exactly my thoughts.
With regards to water parameters .......... the water in the crater lakes of Central America (where A. labiatus originate) are for the most part the same as Lake Malawi. This is a non issue.
Diet is another non issue if you choose your main staple of food wisely. I feed the exact same food to mbuna (even those classified as strict herbivores, such as Tropheops macrophthalmus ) as I do Amphilophus species such as A. labiatus, and have never lost a mbuna to bloat. The biggest problem would be ensuring that the mbuna don't over eat while attempting to get enough food to the much larger RD. Pellet size that would work for both species isn't going to be easy once the RD matures. You can mix pellet sizes but the mbuna will constantly over eat, which makes for fat unhealthy mbuna.
The reason that I personally wouldn't mix the two would be due to aggression/size/behavioural issues, which in many cases will lead to excessive stress in one or the other, or both. IMO it's just not a good mix of fish.
