Mixing Africans and South Americans

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A

awsomepk

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 2, 2010
64
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6
Wisconsin
Hi guys, my old thread died, so this is the same question as before - can i mix my 2 SA cichlids (turquoise severums) and 6 african cichlids (Yelow lab, acei, kenyan, and a few others) with an albino oscar and jag? I have a 110 gal (71x18x20) and all the fish now are 2ish inches
 
It can be done.. Some will tell you it's a bad idea but others,including myself,have had sucess doing so. My experience was with a grow-out tank(not meant to house together for life). Just watch out for aggression!!!!

----Chris
 
I have a 3" albino, with a 2.5" Jewel, 2.5" auratus, three labs, a zebra, and a tinfoil barb. Nobody bothers the oscar. The auratus is by far the meanest, but she doesnt bother the Oscar or Jewel. The auratus is a nice fish, but I wouldnt buy one again If I were to do it over as she is just too aggressive. Growing up I thought Oscars were aggressive, but my albino is very peaceful.
 
There have been a few people on here who have had success with it. I am not sure if the tank remained mixed for life tho, like someone else stated, the fish may have only been grown out in there. Zebvance has a 240 gallon with mixed cichlids, here is a link to his thread on his tank and fish- http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=345022

I know he has switched out a few species of fish in that tank that caused problems. I suggest sending him a private message and asking his thoughts on your fish, or read over his tank progression thread and see what all worked and did not work.

Good luck to you...and welcome to MFK. :)
 
I used to have an EBJD in my Malawi tank and I still have three clown loaches in there. As the other posters have stated, many people will tell you not to do it. While it might not be an optimal situation, I am not so sure that it is as bad as some let on as I know several people that have done it without issue.
 
I think it's the water they were born and raised in. Think of it like if you were born in Mexico city with all the air pollution and such. people there have no problem with it. they even get used to it. Then if you move them to somewhere with fresh air and not so much pollution, they aren't going to like it as much, even though that's what they should. If you got one from the wild though, that would definitely be a problem, but they are bred and raised in normal water conditions(around here at least)
 
Personally, I think the jag is going to be a problem in a 110 with those tankmates. Every fish is different though. I just had to remove my 4"jewel from my 90 because it was beating up my 5" jack dempsey, 3" salvini and 6" rainbow shark. Fish just refuses to have anything else in the tank with it. Full grown jags with bad dispositions can be nightmares to deal with.

Use caution and monitor behavior. Adding lots of cover helps alot too.
 
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