I am thinking about setting up a tank devoted to Africans, and so far I like the fish from Malawi. From everything I am seeing it looks like the main categories are Haps, Mbuna, and Peacocks. Would a mix of these fish work? or can some of these fish not be kept together
Compatability Question
- Thread starter sbrady5pts
- Start date
Depends IME. What size tank were you looking at? I've had no problems keeping a few Mbuna mixed with peacocks and haps in a large enough tank. If you do mix, try and keep the Mbuna stock small compared to the Peacock and Hap. Also, if you want a larger Mbuna population, Yellow Labs are less aggressive for the most part when compared to other Mbuna.
+1 i have a 240g AC tank with mainly peacocks and haps, i do have mbunas but only 4 of them..I have no problems from them at all.
As mentioned by others it really depends on the fish you choose, but it is usually recommended to not mix mbuna and peacocks. You can mix mbuna and haps, or haps and peacocks, but not (usually) mbuna and peacocks. The reason for this is that mbuna are usually much more aggressive (again not universal, but usually), and are much more active fish. The constant activity usually stresses out the peacocks, and the mbuna will also outcompete the peacocks for food and tank locations - due to aggressive nature and constant movement.
If you really want to mix mbuna and peacocks, then make sure to stay with the least aggressive species of mbuna. A great resource is <http://cichlid-forum.com/profiles/>. It provides lists of haps, peacocks, and peacocks (and other cichlids) and gives information about them. One of the most helpful pieces of information is the aggression level. It should be understood though that aggression level will differ from fish to fish.
Good luck, and I would suggest posting up a "final" stock list before actually moving forward. That way people can weigh in and give you their experience with mixing certain species.
If you really want to mix mbuna and peacocks, then make sure to stay with the least aggressive species of mbuna. A great resource is <http://cichlid-forum.com/profiles/>. It provides lists of haps, peacocks, and peacocks (and other cichlids) and gives information about them. One of the most helpful pieces of information is the aggression level. It should be understood though that aggression level will differ from fish to fish.
Good luck, and I would suggest posting up a "final" stock list before actually moving forward. That way people can weigh in and give you their experience with mixing certain species.
if you pick small ones you could try a 30 for 1 peacock species or a 55 for 2-3 or haps and peacocks but if you want mbuna with haps or peacocks i'd use a 75 minimum with less aggressive smaller mbuna and haps. another issue is that you will need to ensure that the mbuna get enough plant matter in their diets since the meaty foods usually fine for haps and peacocks and other cichlids will eventually cause bloat if fed to mbuna long term