I've kept a mixed African and American cichlid tank for about 4 years now and here's some of my experiences and tips.
The general consensus is that mixing those 2 cichlid types is unrecommended, but I've found some tips and tricks to make sure that American and African cichlids can live successfully together.
1. On the American side, only choose cichlids from high pH waters to match pH requirements for African cichlids. Thus, I only recommend mixing Central American (CA) cichlids + green terrors (west of Andes) with Africans as they have compatible water parameters. Plus, South American cichlids tend to be too peaceful to live with more aggressive Africans like mbuna leading to my second point...
2. On the African side, I've found peacocks (and likely haps tho I've only kept one thus far so take this with a grain of salt) to be the perfect African to mix with CA cichlids. In my experience, peacocks tend to only show aggression among each other so they leave the CA cichlids alone. Furthermore, CA cichlids and even mbuna in my experience ignore peacocks because CA cichlids and mbuna tend to live near the substrate, while peacocks hover in the middle/top of the aquarium.
3. Be selective about mbuna. I find mbuna species vary drastically in temperament. Some mbuna only display defensive aggression and largely mind their own business while others are extremely fin-nippy (in my opinion the biggest drawback to mixing African and American cichlids together) and will attack slow, long-finned CA cichlids. Thus, I would research mbuna species to see which ones are more peaceful and a better addition to a CA cichlid tank.
Mbuna I've kept that and they're compatability:
peaceful enough to coexist with CA cichlids:
yellow labs, acei
May or may not run into problems:
red zebras
Avoid at all costs:
demasoni
4. Mbuna tend to have short fins so fin nipping isn't as big as a problem in mbuna only tanks. However, when mixed with CA cichlids that often have long trailers, fin nipping becomes the bane of mixing mbuna and American cichlids. Hence, only choose CA cichlids with shorter fins.
Short finned CA cichlids that I've kept which work well with Africans:
salvini, convicts,
Longer finned CA cichlids that may or
The general consensus is that mixing those 2 cichlid types is unrecommended, but I've found some tips and tricks to make sure that American and African cichlids can live successfully together.
1. On the American side, only choose cichlids from high pH waters to match pH requirements for African cichlids. Thus, I only recommend mixing Central American (CA) cichlids + green terrors (west of Andes) with Africans as they have compatible water parameters. Plus, South American cichlids tend to be too peaceful to live with more aggressive Africans like mbuna leading to my second point...
2. On the African side, I've found peacocks (and likely haps tho I've only kept one thus far so take this with a grain of salt) to be the perfect African to mix with CA cichlids. In my experience, peacocks tend to only show aggression among each other so they leave the CA cichlids alone. Furthermore, CA cichlids and even mbuna in my experience ignore peacocks because CA cichlids and mbuna tend to live near the substrate, while peacocks hover in the middle/top of the aquarium.
3. Be selective about mbuna. I find mbuna species vary drastically in temperament. Some mbuna only display defensive aggression and largely mind their own business while others are extremely fin-nippy (in my opinion the biggest drawback to mixing African and American cichlids together) and will attack slow, long-finned CA cichlids. Thus, I would research mbuna species to see which ones are more peaceful and a better addition to a CA cichlid tank.
Mbuna I've kept that and they're compatability:
peaceful enough to coexist with CA cichlids:
yellow labs, acei
May or may not run into problems:
red zebras
Avoid at all costs:
demasoni
4. Mbuna tend to have short fins so fin nipping isn't as big as a problem in mbuna only tanks. However, when mixed with CA cichlids that often have long trailers, fin nipping becomes the bane of mixing mbuna and American cichlids. Hence, only choose CA cichlids with shorter fins.
Short finned CA cichlids that I've kept which work well with Africans:
salvini, convicts,
Longer finned CA cichlids that may or
