Keeping Rift Lake Cichlids In Community Tanks

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RD. said:
I was a mod on the following forum 15+ years ago, and along with other things helped put some of these together.

https://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1525

Temperament: Aggressive
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Conspecific Temperament: Aggressive


As I was saying, in this hobby success seems to be measured very differently from one hobbyist to another.
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I am not saying I'm an expert on their temperament, you're just putting words in my mouth at this point, I said in my experience, and I wanted to know more about them, I talked to the owner and heard they are semi aggressive and was told they would do fine, you may disagree with it ,but this is my experience, fish are like people, some can be peaceful, some can be nasty,it all depends on the individual fish. just to make stuff clear I AM NOT AN EXPERT ON CICHLIDS! THAT IS JUST MY EXPERIENCE
 
IME, mixing African and CA/SA cichlid can achieve better harmony than keeping pure biotope species as they are so distantly related that they don't see each other as threat. But I will not mix Amazon blackwater cichlid with my hard water community due to drastically different water requirements.

I used to keep an all Malawian cichlid tank and I found it boring. They are all blue fish with similar body shape, all mouthbrooders and talk with the same body language. They are so closely related that males see one another as sexual competitors, fight and cross breed with wrong females. Then I got into central American cichlid. Same with Rift Lake cichlid, they are too closely related that they fight and cross breed like crazy.

So I prefer and have been mixing cichlid from different habitats to reduce aggression, as long as you choose the right fish that match in the water requirements and temperament. Here is a video of my former set up. Currently, Now I have a large Bifas and Frontosa as center pieces mixed in with smaller CA and smaller Africans.

 
IME, mixing African and CA/SA cichlid can achieve better harmony than keeping pure biotope species as they are so distantly related that they don't see each other as threat. But I will not mix Amazon blackwater cichlid with my hard water community due to drastically different water requirements.

I used to keep an all Malawian cichlid tank and I found it boring. They are all blue fish with similar body shape, all mouthbrooders and talk with the same body language. They are so closely related that males see one another as sexual competitors, fight and cross breed with wrong females. Then I got into central American cichlid. Same with Rift Lake cichlid, they are too closely related that they fight and cross breed like crazy.

So I prefer and have been mixing cichlid from different habitats to reduce aggression, as long as you choose the right fish that match in the water requirements and temperament. Here is a video of my former set up. Currently, I have a large Bifas and Frontosa as center pieces mixed in with smaller CA and smaller Africans.

 
but I know julidochromis cichlids can do fine with most fish, they’re gentle and sometimes get bullied by the other fish, as long as the julidochromis aren’t a mated pair, they’ll do fine
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Sorry, but statements like that simply confuse people that have the same or less experience than you do. When one is offering up advice one should keep that in mind that the exception to the rule isn't what we should consider, but more what will TYPICALLY take place in a closed system such as an aquarium. Generally speaking, J. dickfeldi's are aggressive, not "gentle" such as you stated. You wouldn't know that because your experience is very short term, with a single, semi-juvenile fish, most likely a female. Consider it part of the overall learning curve of this hobby. And you're welcome.
 
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used to keep an all Malawian cichlid tank and I found it boring. They are all blue fish with similar body shape, all mouthbrooders and talk with the same body language. They are so closely related that males see one another as sexual competitors, fight and cross breed with wrong females.
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All blue fish, with similar body shape? lol There are plenty of fish from Lake Malawi that are not blue, and do not have the same body shape, nor have the same body language, nor will they cross breed. One example, a group of C. moorii, and a group of L. caeruleus, which is a mix that I have in one of my tanks. In that same tank I also have a group of 8 S. lucipinnis, which although are synos from Lake Tanganyika, the synos that are endemic to Lake Malawi are near impossible to source in these parts, and IMO get too large for a 125, which is the size of my African set up. So clearly I am not picking on those that go non biotopish. I was simply pointing out some of the faults that I see with some of these set ups, that others feel are a success story.
 
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Jhay3513 said:
I cringe when I see 1 and 2 frontosa thrown into community tanks with SA cichlids or an over stocked tank with a bunch of malawi and Victorian cichlids.
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I usually do as well, but there is always that one exception. Case in point I have a 10" female burundi frontosa in with my malawi & mbuna 240g tank. It actually was not by choice though. The 10" female front is the absolute meanest frontosa I have ever in my life seen. She was originally in with my colony of 10 frontosa but she ended up killing one of the 10" males and then a week later she beat another 8-9" male front up so bad I thought I was going to lose him, luckily I didn't. So I ended up putting her in with the malawi & mbuna about a year ago and she does great in there. She's actually the beta in charge right after my Champsochromis in that tank.

As a rule though you are totally right, usually a single front with other haps is not a good idea. I just chalk it up to fish being a lot like people, there's always that one you run into that just does not conform to the rules and is a total jerk. And thats my female front thats in with the other rowdys lol
 
RD. said:
Sorry, but statements like that simply confuse people that have the same or less experience than you do. When one is offering up advice one should keep that in mind that the exception to the rule isn't what we should consider, but more what will TYPICALLY take place in a closed system such as an aquarium. Generally speaking, J. dickfeldi's are aggressive, not "gentle" such as you stated. You wouldn't know that because your experience is very short term, with a single, semi-juvenile fish, most likely a female. Consider it part of the overall learning curve of this hobby. And you're welcome.
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several other people I've talked to have said that they are generally peaceful unless present with other cichlids, that is just what I've heard and that is just my experience
https://coburgaquarium.com.au/sheet.php?id=260
 
Jeffrey, lots of people give poor advice on public forums. Over time you will come to understand that, and which folks can be trusted, and have years of hands on experience, and those who just talk out of their arse.
 
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RD. said:
Jeffrey, lots of people give poor advice on public forums. Over time you will come to understand that, and which folks can be trusted, and have years of hands on experience, and those who just talk out of their arse.
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I know that much, but the thing is that it goes from fish to fish, some fish can be really mean and nasty, others can be really peaceful, you just don't know, it all depends on the fish
 
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