the boy and i are setting/dreaming up our first cichlid tank atm... so now is the time when we scour the country for ammonia without weird additives to fishless cycle and solid information on acceptable coexisters. i have been entrusted with all the research, because latin names frighten and confuse him.
i know that we're not really going to get peace in a mbuna tank... but i want to make sure i don't pick out any super-aggressive meanieheads that will incessantly beat up on the more chillaxed species i'm looking at.
we'd like to stay strictly mbuna (well, I like peacocks too, but there's no convincing a purist...
).
so far we're liking yellow labs and pseudotropheus acei... looking for one or two more possibilities, the more colorful the better. aside from needing them to have a milder temperament, we also need them to be fairly inexpensive and common (but not hybridized, a la "assorted africans"), as our lfs burned down and petsmart is our only other option as far as i know. any suggestions?
also, does anyone have a solid resource on fish temperament? i find conflicting information in a lot of places... for example, mongabay.com lists pseudotropheus socolofi as one of the more peaceful species, but almost everyone at aquahobby.com who has commented on the species says it is far more aggressive than books and websites may let on.
i know that we're not really going to get peace in a mbuna tank... but i want to make sure i don't pick out any super-aggressive meanieheads that will incessantly beat up on the more chillaxed species i'm looking at.
we'd like to stay strictly mbuna (well, I like peacocks too, but there's no convincing a purist...
).so far we're liking yellow labs and pseudotropheus acei... looking for one or two more possibilities, the more colorful the better. aside from needing them to have a milder temperament, we also need them to be fairly inexpensive and common (but not hybridized, a la "assorted africans"), as our lfs burned down and petsmart is our only other option as far as i know. any suggestions?
also, does anyone have a solid resource on fish temperament? i find conflicting information in a lot of places... for example, mongabay.com lists pseudotropheus socolofi as one of the more peaceful species, but almost everyone at aquahobby.com who has commented on the species says it is far more aggressive than books and websites may let on.
