New to cichlids, question of compatibility.

[muzicman]

Hello all,

I just inherited yet another tank from my family. A 65 gallon tank 36" L X 18" D X 24" H. My question is, I've had my eye on the yellow labidochromis and the melanochromis maingano. Both are Lake Malawi cichlids...Would I have any problems mixing these fish? If not, how many can I keep in this size tank. I assumed I would only keep 1 male to 2 of 3 females. Any other cichlids that would fit in well with either or both of these. anyway...any insight would be helpfull.

thank you,

muzicman

 

[Exevious]

In that size tank I think you would be fine... As with most cichlids its always hard to tell. But its certainly worth a shot. I would keep at least four of each to spread aggression. And you would still have room to add a few others.

 

[Dylan]

Yea, if you only had two cichlids, one might chase the other around. but if you had 4 or 5 it would probably be better. Just make sure to have a lot of hiding spaces in your background for you cichlids. How big are your two cichlids, and how big are they supposed to get?

 

[wayne]

I would go for controlled overstocking, and I would be looking to keep 12 to 18 fish in there, but with extensve filtration to keep me out of trouble. Yellow labswould be a great fish, but if Mel. maingano is one ofthe horizontally striped Mel. species, they're normally pretty brutal so I'd be looking for another small, probably blue, species instead.

People do not use normal stocking for mbuna - by controlled overstocking you can disperse aggression quite nicely. Also a ration of one male to 2 or 3 females is not really ideal as the females get worked pretty hard. One foot of fish to one sq. foot tank bottom is a good place to start

 

[Managuense]

keep an eye on anything from the melanochromis genus.....they can be nasty.

 

[muzicman]

Thank you

Thank you very much. That was all very helpfull. I had heard that about the mainganos. That they were very aggressive. Anyway thanks everyone...I am still in the process of putting the tank back together it will still be a month or so before any fish are in it. I will post pictures. Oh also, does anyway have any good links for structure that the lake malawi fish will like?? thanks again


muzicman

 

[Exevious]

Being that the yellow labs are a more docile cichlid... I would put them in first and let them spend a week or so getting established. This will give them the upper hand as the more aggresive cichlids you add later will be the new guys.

Right now my male lab is just over 3 inches, and the dominate fish in my tank. I have a female lab just under 3 inches. My jewels were added a few weeks back, they are still around 2 inches.. it looks like they might both be female.

My plan is to add another female lab,
2 rainbows
2 albino
and maybe another pair. For a total of 10-11 cichlids.