toughest small cichlid

[croc 2-3]

Different Species.http://www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk/php/image/28605.jpg

Jeff Rapps has some now!!!!!1

I thought five spot generals were Hemichromis fasciatus. You can mix captive bred cichlids from any continent together as they have been bred so long in similar(captive) conditions far from the species continent of origin. I can't tell you how many lamprologus,pseudotropheus,neolamprologus even alonucara I've mixed with CA & SA fish. That being said go for lamprologus,neetroplus,or hemichromis species. Make sure the butti is larger then the neetroplus or hemichromis or they might kill the butti. I've never had butti really do any real damage unless the other fish fled. like parachromis species they only pick on weak fish. if the fish stands up & fight they usually leave it alone.

 

[invisyblegypsey]

i got 2 jewels and put them in my 285 and they terroized all the fish in my tank some 10x their size so i had to set up a 40 gal just for them

 

[duanes]

I have kept Tilapia bythobates with cichlids 10 times their size, they have even spawned and raised fry in that tank up to the 1" mark.
The bythobates in the pic below is about 2.5", the Tomocichla asfraci she's keeping an eye on in the background, is 10". And she kept them away ferociously

 

[Connor0729]

red jewel cichlid. its not just because i keep them either. i just know that they can tool convicts any day of the week. they're brutal too. my pair killed the oter 4 in the tank (which was expected), but they also disemboweled them. there were guts all over the tank

then the male killed the female (i'm guessing because she ate some fry, and he didn't like that at all)

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

i would also look into neets if you want something small that can hold its own, although they are CA not African.

 

[Gothyc_samurai]

salvini, so underestimated for being brutal!

 

[cornbread_5]

it doesn;t matter if it african or ca/ sa just small and can hold there own

 

[Umbra]

Don't mix your African rift lake fish with West African Riverine cichlids.. They require different water parameters.

If anything i'd go with Convicts. They have similar water needs and stay rather small yet still hold all their own. Or a Divandu albimarginatus. They stay half the size of a butti.

95% of the "rift lake" cichlids you see in lfs are farm bred and so far from being farm bred that water parameters really don't make a difference anymore. Ontop of that, I'd be willing to bet most lfs use one or 2 large, central filtration systems that pump the same water through all of their tanks. The rift lake cichlids seem to be doing fine in the same water as the discus in the tank beside them uses, no? Unless you're dealing with WC fish, I strongly believe that this really doesn't apply. I've had N. brichardi breeding in tanks with convicts, I've had N. christyii in a large tank with assorted neotropicals. I'm now keeping Telmatochromis Dhonti (f1 Dhonti, not some lfs garbage either) with Exodon paradoxus and a few small C.As for target fish and they're spawning. Guess what, this has all been using Ontario's tap water, pH is around 7.2. The only time I've ever treated water was for spawning WC Altum Angels (blackwater extract to drop pH to around 6.4) and for keeping wild petrochromis (baking soda does wonders to raise pH to around 8.0). The Altums spawned and the petrochromis thrived, but guess what? When I ran out of blackwater extract (and my lfs stopped carrying it too), the angels continued to spawn. The petrochromis I ended up selling because the dominant male was beginning to harass the others and I didn't have the tank space to separate them all.

I say mbuna are you best bet. They're tough enough to hold their own and fast enough to get away if need be. People have noted that tilapia and the larger hemichromis sp. have a special hatred for one another, being that in the wild the H. fasciatus complex work in groups of about 1 dozen, and actively rob the nests of spawning tilapia, where 2 will actively engage the parents while the others attack the spawn. Not too sure what this would translate to in aquaria, but take it how you will.