African cichlid help.. please.

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Morledzep

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 26, 2007
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where my cichla are
My youngest son (age 21) helps care for our aquariums and has expressed an extreme interest in the brightly colored african cichlids we see at the various LFS's we go to. He is particularly attracted to the electric blue and the yellow ones with the black fins (very pretty fish IMO too).

So.. i thought, for his next birthday, in August, we could set up one of the spare 50 gal tanks in his room and build some nice rock and cave decorations for his cichlids.

Can you guys give me an idea what he'll have to do differently from what we do with our peacock bass and angelfish? or is there really anything different that he should do? he's also expressed an interest in birchir, is there a small one that will get along ok with the african cichlids?

ok..thanks in advance.
 
I've kept a (initially-young) senegal bichir and a ropefish with various american and african cichlids in a 200g for 3.5 yrs, and never had any problems in terms of aggression towards the polypterids.

The electric blue and electric yellow are two very distinct species of cichlid though, and you may find that the electric yellows and the rest of their mbuna ilk are too aggressive for electric blues and other hap cichlids (ie the haps such as the e-blues will always appear bullied and forced to stay at the top of the tank).

electric yellows do best with other mbuna, in my experience. some ppl claim they in particular are less aggressive than other mbuna species, but I've personally found otherwise.

I think that if you're just working with a 50g, you're best off with either 1) 3-7 mbuna or 2) 1-2 of the smaller hap species (such as e-blues) mixed with a few small noncichlids


anyway, good luck
 
thanks piranha,

he picked out two electric blues today.. i've got them growing out in the 10 gal aquarium in my dining room until we get his 50 gal set up. we set up the 10 gal originally for some electric blue crayfish to grow out in, only 2 survived, so there are lots of plants and a #5 hydro foam filter in this little tiny tank.. and these tiny cichlids.. look like they are swiming through a jungle.. lol.

i saw someone in the MFK marketplace selling some adorable little catfish that don't get big and are supposed to be ok with these cichlids.. what do ya think? i forgot the name of them, but they don't look like a terrible thing to have...
 
I kept a couple corydoras (might be the very catfish you are mentioning) mixed in with an e-blue among a large number of other assorted cichlids, I never had any problem with the corydoras until a certain texas cichlid grew large enough to mouth-grab (albeit not swallow) the cories, whereupon they quickly succumbed to the harassment. Pictus catfish, plecos, and synodontis catfish did fine in my 200g tank as well.

So personally I'd stick in any catfish you want, as long as it doesn't grow big enough to eat the e-blue :P
 
ok, i went to the MFK marketplace and looked up the catfish i saw. the name is Synodontis Petricola. The guy says they only get about 4 inches and are from the same lake that the african cichlids are from. And in the pic he has in the thread they are kinda cute in a catfishy kinda way.. lol.

i think i'm gonna get some.. i'm looking for a stand for the 55 gal now, but i can set it up and get the tank established where it is till August when my son's birthday is. Means a big moving operation but it'll be worth it.
 
TipStylez;873773; said:
when it comes to synos...have alot of money. haha
Click to expand...


why do you say that? are they expensive to keep? i'm not sure i'm understanding the problem? :confused:
 
Some of them are expensive. And its better to buy more then two since they school.
 
lol tip, is 20 enough? someone is selling them in the MFK classifieds 20 for $100. is that a good price?
 
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