Non malawi tankmates...

[Gothyc_samurai]

heres a few fish that id like to try in with my malawis,

clarias barachus 10"
blue loach 3"
synodontis ocellifer 6"
porthole flagtail catfish 3"
lima shovelnose cat 8"
parrot cichlid 2"
oscars 5"
salvini male 6"
mayan cichlid male 8"


now i know american cichlids are different in body language etc, and isnt there a species of clarias in lake malawi? mine is from south east asia, would they be ok?

feedback please

 

[croc 2-3]

heres a few fish that id like to try in with my malawis,

clarias barachus 10"
blue loach 3"
synodontis ocellifer 6"
porthole flagtail catfish 3"
lima shovelnose cat 8"
parrot cichlid 2"
oscars 5"
salvini male 6"
mayan cichlid male 8"


now i know american cichlids are different in body language etc, and isnt there a species of clarias in lake malawi? mine is from south east asia, would they be ok?

feedback please

not the shovelnose what size is the tank? I keep all types of cichlids together trust me they understand each other. I've kept pseudotropheus with dempseys oscars & neolamprologus species with nandopsis & other CA/SA cichlids. the clarias,oscar,& shovelnose get big enough to eat most mbuna species. large haplochromids,nimbochromis,species will be ok for life though.

 

[Malawinut]

My view in the hobby is this. I am one of those that takes pride in educating myself on the species that I maintain. I try to do many things to produce a more natural environment. No, most of my tanks are not biotopes (which is really impossible anyways). When talking about africans in general, things like water quality and parameters, substrate, decor (rocks, plants, etc), tankmates, and other things have an impact on the fish. There's an old saying about "Thriving vs. Surving". One quick example, I recently bought a group of C.frontosa Mpimbwe. Two had "float" and they all looked dark and not like some show winners to be modest. They all are beautiful and HEALTHY with good coloration now. Only major differences that I could find between the previous owner and myself was the pH and hardness of the tank water. Some fish can take a wide range of conditions while others are genetically able to only tolerate certain ranges of conditions.
One of the most common things is for people to just throw things together because they are "cool". This often leads to sick, dead, or "murdered"/eaten fish. The whole fish hobby thrives on people failing and coming back for more. Everyone one has the right to do what they want with their tanks. You can put a clownfish, a discus, a shark, some ants, a raccoon, the family cat, whatever would be "cool" in your tank. My thoughts are when things go wrong then one shouldn't complain about their poor/uneducated choices. I'm not that knowledgable when it comes to most of the fish listed (they aren't Malawians or even africans). I do know that "Big Fish eats little fish" and that your tank should be pretty large to house most of those fish. Throwing a "Noah's Ark" tank together also would likely inhibit much of the natural behaviours of the fish. I'm a fanatic about my africans for two reasons...fighting and breeding. Both things don't happen if the fish are not housed in the right conditions.
Do whatever makes you happy since I'm not trying to bash those whose methods are different just giving my views. Oh yeah, how I became a cichlidaholic/cichlidiot. I had a beautiful planted community fish tank with fish from all over the world and all types. Years ago some little pimple-faced punk...er...sales associate at one of the chain stores sold me a little blue fish that "would go perfect with my fish". He was soooooooooo pretty. He killed half of the tankmates before he turned yellow and killed all the rest. The tank was a 220g and the fish was a male Ps. lombardoi (Kenyii), and the tank was soon filled with africans

 

[Scotty]

I would like to agree on this subject. The only things I would mix with the Malawi's is the Blue loach and Syn. ocelifer. Water conditions play a major part in how well your fish will do. Give them conditions as close as possible to their original water and you will experience minimal problems.

 

[Gothyc_samurai]

I would like to agree on this subject. The only things I would mix with the Malawi's is the Blue loach and Syn. ocelifer. Water conditions play a major part in how well your fish will do. Give them conditions as close as possible to their original water and you will experience minimal problems.

thanx ill give them a try