Mixing African cichlids with Central American Cichlids?

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gt1009;4026789; said:
I've mixed cons, JD's, and Salvini with various africans.
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I really had the thought instilled into me that It was a horrible thing to do when I posted pics of my cichlids on another fish, reptile forum. They were absolutely rude to me and told me that I was doing the wrong thing. Stuck up jerks I guess that dont know anything. Im glad to know that theyr going to be ok mixed, hopefully the kribs will be ok though, Thanks everyone :D
 
mixing neotropicals with rift lake cichlids is not a black and white issue...personally, I believe it can be done, but there are things I personally wouldn't do, such as mixing mbuna with new world cichlids (in general), because I don't want all the mbuna to bloat due to dietary difference.
 
Cichlaholics Anonymous;4027485; said:
mixing neotropicals with rift lake cichlids is not a black and white issue...personally, I believe it can be done, but there are things I personally wouldn't do, such as mixing mbuna with new world cichlids (in general), because I don't want all the mbuna to bloat due to dietary difference.
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I have a few Americans in my African setup. My way around the diet issue has been to mix up the diet. I feed the, a mix of 1:1 Hikari Gold to Hikari Excel [Excel is made specifically for african herbivorous fish]. Also feed them HBR African cichlid attack, which all my cichlids love.
[I've been emailing Petsmart once a week requesting they carry Hikari Excel in their stores. They carry it on their online site. Help me email them !]


I'd personally wouldn't purposly mix the cichlids, but it happens.

Good luck !!!! :headbang2
 
I am with Mike it can be done just be careful to not over do it per say.. And your Kribs might be fine but time will tell once the Mbuna are bigger and meaner you will know because your Kribs may be residents of the top water column if that happens its a good sign to get them out..


As for me on mixing it can be done i have a Excochromis Argeny's from Malawi in a tank full of Ambush predators from Tanganyika Lepidio's.. And here in a week i have a buddy giving me full grown Firemouths which are going to be added to a 120gal Tang Sexfasciatus and Furcifer group.. I will see how that works..

Good luck on the mix my friend..
 
yeah, mixing africans with central/ south americans can work out fine, especially when you raise them all from very small fish, then they tolerate each other and don't quarrel so much, but when and if you introduce new fish to the tank they will be especially mean..

yeah watch out for the johanni, it will become very aggressive, especially to new fish.

and stay away from midas cichlids or red devils...they will kill anything you got if they get the chance.
 
All my cichlids are very young, most of them just barely over an inch in length so they will grow up together and hopefully have some tolerance. I have all the fish Im going to have unless one passes of course, so no new fish will be introduced anymore so from the sounds of it im in the safe zone ^-^
 
I recently lost my sa/ca cichlids to a bad case of ich while on vacation & have been struggling to decide if I want to restock with africans or americans. I was always told they could not be mixed so was very happy to find this post! Any suggestions on which are more compatable? Now I really have a lot to think about!

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When that johanni hits 3 to 4 inches he is going to turn into a complete bastard. He will end up killing the kribensis. There is just something about johanni, auratus, demasoni they are just plain homicidal. My johanni rules the entire tank and has killed 5 fish 2 of which were kribensis. The only fish that can stand up to him (but still lose) are a jewel and the male auratus.

Right now i have a tank mixed with africans and SA/CA because im waiting to move all the africans to a 125 gallon tank. I can't add anymore to the 55 gallon so i have just been mixing the future additions in with my Sa/CA growouts. It works out because the africans in there though mean are not the aforementioned killers. They still rule the tank against doviis twice their size.

Basically just watch it closely if the kribensis start staying near the top you don't have much time till they die. Or if you want the kribensis so bad then swap out the johanni for something a bit more mild like yellow labs.

Oh and don't believe that crap that when fish grow up together they will be fine. The truth is if they grow up together they have a BETTER chance to be ok with each other. I've had fish live peacefully from the time they were 1 inch to 4 inches then just go nuts and kill each other. You can never know for sure all you can do is try. Just be prepared to separate or to come home to carnage.
 
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