Mixing Polypteurs and Malawi utaka ciclids?

[Andri Pogo]

Has anyone tried mixing Polypterus and the utaka Malawi cichlids ?
My girlfriend came up with the idea of adding some of the bigger utaka Malawi cichlids to my 200G tank which houses 20-25 polypterus, an African Tiger fish, a Clown knife and 2x Pangasius (which i would sell if i decided to try the cichlids)

Wanted to check if someone had tried the mix and how it went

 

[King-eL]

It's been done before but it would depend on the size of the bichirs and the cichlids. With 20-25 bichirs and are mostly around 15" or bigger then there is a chance during the night that some cichlids might get death rolled to death. Bichirs don't seems to attack with a death roll during the night if there are just a few of them. One of the reason that they are capable of doing much damage to the bigger cichlid of max of 8" is that if one bichir tried to attack it the rest will fallow once the attack starts and that's how they are able to take down the bigger cichlids. I have seen this behavior many times as I feed my bichirs with feeder african cichlid that my friend keeps giving me. They are about 3-6" and sometimes 8" if he sent me some south american ones. Although its a bit hard to see but the chaos in the tank can be heard. I have to use my cell phone's light just in order to see what's happening.

I'm also worried about the African tiger fish as they will most like tear the cichlid apart. I have seen this with a 15" ATF mixed with a 10" oscar and the oscar got ripped apart.

 

[SimonL]

Ditto, the ATF worries me more than the polys.

 

[q_fish]

i dink the polys should be ok with the cichlids =).. right now i have african and fronts and are living with only 1 bichir right now.. thye dont bother them thought.. but if you get like a endli or sometihng, they might eat ur cichlids dependin on the size..

 

[Andri Pogo]

Poly´s killing the cichlids are the least of my worries, i have kept many american cichlids with them, all down to 3-4" and my poly´s have never killed or eaten other fish, they show now interest in them whatsoever.. Its probably different in your case KingeL since you feed live fish.
I was rather worried if the cichlids would be too aggressive.
But yes the other worry would be the Tiger fish, but he has also lived with many other fish and never killed anything bigger then 3" but that could of course change when he gets bigger, but thats not happening anytime soon since he is a very slow grower.

 

[q_fish]

when i first added the albino bichir, the fronts picked on hiim for the first half an hour or so, but after that, they left him along,, i dink cause they dink it a worm cause i feed my fish blood worm.. but now they live well with each other.. the front and cichlids fight among each other and leave the bichir alone =)

 

[King-eL]

Poly´s killing the cichlids are the least of my worries, i have kept many american cichlids with them, all down to 3-4" and my poly´s have never killed or eaten other fish, they show now interest in them whatsoever.. Its probably different in your case KingeL since you feed live fish.
I was rather worried if the cichlids would be too aggressive.
But yes the other worry would be the Tiger fish, but he has also lived with many other fish and never killed anything bigger then 3" but that could of course change when he gets bigger, but thats not happening anytime soon since he is a very slow grower.

I don't mainly feed mine live fish except when I get when my friend gave me some of his rejected fries as he breeds a lot of cichlids. Maybe around 1-4 months when I feed them feeders. Not all the time. It's not because they have taste for it, it's just instinct. In the wild they usually prey with sleeping cichlids during the night. But its all your fish so I'm just giving my advise. That will be for you to decide.

Why not just get some of those Great Emperor cichlids as they grow really big or Malawi Haps that grows big.

 

[Andri Pogo]

Dont get me wrong, I appreciate the advice very much, i was just throwing it out there that i wasnt worried about the cichlids being eaten
I just meant that i was more worried about the well-being of my polypterus.

 

[King-eL]

Dont get me wrong, I appreciate the advice very much, i was just throwing it out there that i wasnt worried about the cichlids being eaten
I just meant that i was more worried about the well-being of my polypterus.

One of my friend who also keep polypterus actually mix with SA cichlid. He usally use the cichlid as food producing as when they breed and the baby cichlid grows a lil bit then the bichirs woyld snack on them. Maybe mixing them with malawi cichlids should be a good idea as well. When the malawi cichlids breed then you'll have feeders for your bichirs. Save you more money on food.