Who has had success keeping CA/SA with Rift Lake Cichlids?

[imusuallyuseless]

A few years back I kept a breeding pair of Oscars, Male Nic, Orange Pike Cichlid, Crenicichla sp. Xingu I, severum, firemouth, breeding convicts, a few random yellow labs and a Copadichromis azureus male in my 180G. Very little aggression aside from the lovebirds mating rituals. I haven't really 'mixed' since then, but sometimes I think about it as I know the colors of some of the old worlders would get my girlfriend more into the hobby. Especially seeing some of the local hobbiest selling tons of yellow lab fry. Think they would make neat dithers in my CA tanks, but then again I'd hate to see my RD/midas go to town on them

Once I get back into more peaceful new worlders I may reconsider mixing again...
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[fishguts]

i keep mine with a couple blue dolphins. (moorii)

 

[Otherone]

OP - to answer your question YES most recently grew out this Male Jag.
The Jag now 9", resides with an 8" Female Jag and a 10" Tyrannochromis Nigriventer. The Tyranno has no problem fending off both Jags. Pics were taken back in June of 2010. Most of the Haps and Mbunas have been sold via MFK Regional Marketplace. In the past I've had Red Devils, Oscar, and a Firemouth live with these Africans. The Red Devil was too aggressive, the Oscar wasn't aggressive enuff, and the Firemouth was basically too small. A friend of mine tried adding Mbuna to his 12" Oscar tank - it was a massacre. The Oscar ate the Mbuna so I gave him the 2nd ugliest fish I've ever owned an 8" Male Livingstonii, that fish is still living with 3 large Oscars 3 years later.

 

[Piscine]

I have two raspberry heads with a convict....Convicts were making too many fry and need to be split up, so I tossed the male in there. The little 1.5" raspberry heads still dominate the 2.5" convict.

 

[HybridGS]

I tried Mbuna (other than yellow labs) twice in the past and it ended up badly for the CAs.

First time i put a 8" Oscar in with a breeding colony of Blue Zebras back in 2001, what Zebras the Oscar didnt eat, ripped the Oscar to shreds.

The next time i tried it was 2007, i put in a 3" Jack Dempsey, Clown Loaches a Lifalli Jewel and a 3.5" Pink convict into a established Mbuna set up which included Demasoni, Red Zebra and Auratus.....it ended badly for all but the Jewel which survived, the Dempsey was literally pulled in half inside minutes of me putting him in the tank, the Con last 24hrs.

This time i have a good balance tho, Yellow Labs are nice chilled out fish, Blue Haps don't interact with other fish at all and the Livingstonii and the Red Peacock have the temperment of say a firemouth.

 

[dogofwar]

I agree that pH is largely a non-issue here: all of my fish (rift lake or amazonian) get tap...and plenty of it. Same with diet: all get NLS.

That said, there are some definite combinations of new world cichlids and rift lake cichlids that will be a disaster.

I've had good luck with the following:
- Frontosa and severums
- Peacocks (Aulonocara) with Chanchitos
- Peaceful utaka-type "haps" (Nyassochromis, Copadochromis, etc.) with Guianacara, Geophagus and the like
- Larger haps with larger, relatively mild CAs like synspilum, bocourti, etc.

Sometimes you can get away with others, especially if the CA fish aren't in a breeding situation

Matt

 

[HybridGS]

I was thinking of adding a few Blue Dolphins to my stock, dont want to upset the balance tho because everything is going great.

 

[BooshWacka]

Call me basic

i got

125g

Jack dempsey ca/sa
Texas ca/sa
Jaguar ca/sa
Red Empress Male Female African

No one messes with the africans the Female Jack dempsey and Male RM chill in the same hole...almost like mates weird

all fish were rasied together all from 3in and under 2 years later ALL is well aside from normal territorial scrums

I think the majority of new/ uneducated/ basic fish keepers do it.

Theres usually no longer problems with diet issues etc anymore because most africans you can buy are so far removed from their wild ancestors and have been raised in conditions different from their ancestors.

The few people I know that keep fish (that dont frequent here or care enough about them to study in depth) buy whatever looks pretty at the local chain store and put them all in a tank thats too small together...then get pissy with me when I tell them the tanks too small, the fish will grow too big, change the water more than once every 3 months, you need more filtration etc.

Basically noobs do it because it looks pretty and they dont know any better, or people (like you I assume) that dont care they are from different continents and arent trying to go for a regionally correct tank, for the most part.

I dont do it because I dont like african cichlids (aside from butti's). If I did, Id keep them together if I didnt mind the unrealistic situation of them cohabiting.

Its only a personal preference, unless youre getting wild caught or F1/F2 of each species. Around here, most pet stores all work off one or two large sumps for all their tanks (usually) and all the different continental species survive in it just fine.

 

[phyber]

i have 2 SA's with a yellow lab. everybody gets along peachy.

i know there are people who flame mixing continents together. i HIGHLY doubt any of the fish we buy were directly removed from their respective continents and placed into our fish tanks. they've adapted to different water peramters of whats available to the fish seller.

there are indeed purists, as with everything...then there are others who keep fish because its their hobby, their relaxation, and they don't have to impress anyone with their purism.

 

[kingdazer1]

I have two venustus male and female in one of my convict tanks thought it was funny to have zebras and giraffe's in the same tank. and i've been a breeder for 12 years but the difference is my venustus were born and raised in fresh water with no salt rescued them from a friend who bred them and got too many to care for. since I shipped my Oscars off to a larger home I had plenty of space.