Malawi Cichilds and Gouramis?

[kitnerjr]

I cleaned my stock of fish out, and only have 4 gouramis and 2 bala sharks left, would a few Malawi Cichilds be ok as tank mates? A few of the gouramis are pretty agressive as it is anyways.

Very well planted tank 75 gallon, 2 filters equaling to 150 gallons.

 

[spadoc79]

they might do okay together but if you wanna keep your plants I wouldnt go with the malawis.

 

[ecoli73]

I fear it will end badly....Africans in general will be quite nippy and not so good for the gouramis.

 

[kitnerjr]

I have fake plants, and 2 of the gouramis are pretty much bullies as it is, just thought perhapse it would work.

 

[ecoli73]

I have a survivor of a heater accident in a 3 inch Cobalt Blue Zebra...a middle of the road Mbuna. It regularly chases my 7 inch Oscar around the tank. If you really want to try, get a couple of milder peacocks and see what happens. Yellow labs might work but they also might be too aggressive.

 

[Fishaholicc]

Bala shark.. maybe... gourmis.. NO. They might be ok for a little while.. gourmis is just too slow and will be a target for africans.

 

[gilberbt]

When I switched my 75G tropical to africans I left 2 5" moonlight gourami's and a few long fin tetras in there. I added about 6 acei, kenyi, and yellow labs all under an inch so I assumed they would be fine for awhile. Well within a day I had to remove what was left of the long fin tetras and they terrorized the gourami's so I got rid of them in about a week. I would hate to see what an adult or sub adults would have done.

 

[Dark SSide]

I have gourami's and goldfish in my 75 grow out tank. I have an aristochromis chrisyi, super vc-10, and some rostrotus in there are they have been fine for about 6 months. The gourami's and goldfish have been in there for years. They keep the tank cycled when there are no cichlids in it. I normally take the cichlids out when they are about 4-5" to go in to the big tank.

 

[why_spyder]

It could work, but I wouldn't try it myself. You would be mixing fish from completely different habitats, with differing diets and, most importantly, different social structures. Malawians generally form a tight-knit pecking order that most outsiders don't fit into.