mixing cichlid species

[Mwwelder]

ive recently aquired a 48 inch tank and stocked it with sea rock.ive got 3 labeotropheus fuelloborni approx 2 and aquarter inch .2lab trewavasae 2inch 2caeruleus 1inch and 1 carealeus 2inch 2 socolofi 2inch 2moorii 1 inch( 1 is now dead) 1 blue acara 3 inch 2 rainbows 3 inch 3 tropheus duboisi half inch and a unknown catfish type it only appears at night.can anyone give me any advice on what is likely tio occur and what preparations i need to make to help them all survive if possible?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Well, I have generally heard you shouldn't mix African with South American because of differnt water types and such but i have 2 Convicts (Central American) and 1 mbuna (African) in my tank and they seem to be fine together....a few scuffles but no injuries.

It seems you are mixing some of differnt lakes in Africa.....it SHOULD be ok doing that except for the different habitats.

I havn't kept many of these species and never kept them together so i would really not know what the outcome will be.

From what i have expirenced, If you let cichlids grow up together there will be less likely of a chance for fighting/killing.

Good Luck! Do some reserch....google has everything and even go to the library to ensure the survival of what seems to be a AWSOME color tank.

 

[Mwwelder]

ive done plenty of reading on cichlids.and read 4 books with info on them.ive obtained them from 4 different sources and asked as many questions as i could but ive also been told that there may not be enough fish to ward off any aggresive males.what do you think?im also searching for another tank to set up in case i have to rescue any bullied occupants in the future

 

[wayne at home]

I'd get the blue acara out as it would prefer less alkalinewater, plus ot's behaviour is different. Other than that, well all your fish as still so small douby you can sex much. Pair of mbuna don't work so well as you need lots od females to each male, but at this point you can't really do much to work our what you need.
I think you should be ok. People will jump on you for the tropheus, but I keep mine wih mbuna and the seem to be ok

Cicghlid man - while S American definintely prefer softer , mor acid water than africans, cons are mostly farmed and originally from central america, where often the water is just as alkaline and hard as the great lakes. Problems occur though as africans and americans have big differences in violence and display patterns - africans go for continual niggling violence where as americans, which commonly have a more defined, fixed territory don't attack till they mean it

 

[Mwwelder]

thanx 4 the tip on the acara ive managed to scrounge a 2 foot tank from my neighbour i need to get the lights heater etc. will a 2 foot be big enough for a while and should it have company ie the rainbows