Stocking with African Cichlids, is it possible?

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charles-n-charge

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 28, 2010
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Livingston Tx
ive got two 55's, one i plan on having community fish in, another for african cichlids.

my question is can i have non-cichlid fish in there as well?
my plan was to have 6 asorted african cichlids, 1 red tailed shark, 1 african knife, 3 ropes, 2 dragon gobies, 1 common pleco, 4 african butterflies, and eventually a jardini.
(african knife, common pleco, and jardini will all be updraded to much larger homes. im only planning to keep them in there as a grow out).

is this possible?
 
There are several categories of African Cichlids: riverine, rift lake and madagascar to name a few. I am most familiar with the Rift Lake cichlids. They require a high Ph (over 7.8) and very hard water. I don't know that the other fish (especially jardini) will flourish in this kind of water. If you decide to go with Rift Lake Cichlids then you may want to stick with some of the native catfish or eels that live in that environment. Also, a 55g is the low end of the tank size for most Africans. A lot of Mbuna and Tropheus, etc do better if you can overcrowd them, but it's hard to do with that little of a tank. I would think a 75 would be better suited to most species.
 
charles-n-charge;4965088; said:
ive got two 55's, one i plan on having community fish in, another for african cichlids.

my question is can i have non-cichlid fish in there as well?
my plan was to have 6 asorted african cichlids, 1 red tailed shark, 1 african knife, 3 ropes, 2 dragon gobies, 1 common pleco, 4 african butterflies, and eventually a jardini.
(african knife, common pleco, and jardini will all be updraded to much larger homes. im only planning to keep them in there as a grow out).

is this possible?
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Red Tail Shark may or may not do well with the high PH, African Knife won't be able to compete for food, same situation with ropefish they're real slow getting to food, dragon gobies are brackish and can get huge, i'd try a rubber lip pleco over the common just for waste and size issues, african butterflies would get bullied, and the jardini at a size small enough to grow out would probably get bullied at that size, africans can get a bit nasty in groups

if you want non african fish i'd go with syndontis cats probably
 
charles-n-charge;4965117; said:
if the cichlids arent too harsh towards other fish ill probably move a few into my 200 gallon once i re-stock it. maybe you can ID the type of cichlids i have.

these are it- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7lAoYJgXzk&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
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The blue one under the rock is a demasoni or cynotilapia (I think). There are some orange labs in there. Then some mixed looking ones that I can't id. They are all Mbuna from Malawi. Here is an awesome website for keeping these kinds of fish:

http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/

Those are very aggressive fish, but they can be a mixed bag. A lot of the aggression will be towards "con-specifics" ie fish that look like them. So, you might have luck with some of those other fish you mentioned because they aren't cichlids and don't look like cichlids, but there is no guarantee that you won't have a jerk cichlid that decides to nip and chase your other fish to death. I usually like a biotope type tank with fish from the same lake, that's me, but what you are trying to do may work for a while. I wouldn't do that combo though, would be worried about the other fish's well-being. Cheers,
w
 
NCStateFisher;4965126; said:
Red Tail Shark may or may not do well with the high PH, African Knife won't be able to compete for food, same situation with ropefish they're real slow getting to food, dragon gobies are brackish and can get huge, i'd try a rubber lip pleco over the common just for waste and size issues, african butterflies would get bullied, and the jardini at a size small enough to grow out would probably get bullied at that size, africans can get a bit nasty in groups

if you want non african fish i'd go with syndontis cats probably
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+1 on the synodontis. They will also mow down the hybrid fry you are sure to get at some point :)
 
my problem is all the fish are already purchased and in tanks, minus the jardini. so im going to need to have them all out somewhere thats appropriate for them and this is the stock that ive figured out for this tank, hoping it would work
 
I would feed live food after lights out so that the ropefish and knife will have a chance to feed (they are nocturnal). Also, I would go to a stoneyard and get a bunch more rockwork to create hiding spaces, and maybe some plastic plants to float for the butterfly fish (they stay at the top). Good luck,
w
 
the dragon gobies will have to be accomodated to their won brackish tank at some point soon
 
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