DK wants to know:
i just bought a electric blue african cichlid and i have no idea what other fish can i keep with it. I wanted to know if i can keep it with my american cichlids, like jack dempseys, convicts and oscars? If not wut other fish will be fine to keep with it.
i just bought a electric blue african cichlid and i have no idea what other fish can i keep with it. I wanted to know if i can keep it with my american cichlids, like jack dempseys, convicts and oscars? If not wut other fish will be fine to keep with it.
September 13th, 2009 at 10:01 am
It is much better advised to keep it with other Africans, such as yellow labs. Africans have sharp teeth which will do huge amounts of damage to less aggressive Americans. The fish you can keep is also dependent on the size of your tank. Minimum size for an electric blue alone is 70 gallons because they grow up to 8″. Any other lake malawi cichlids will be fine.
September 14th, 2009 at 1:59 am
It would be best to keep it with other African cichlids not American ones.In particular more electric blues would be nice as these types of cichlids are best kept in a group of 1 male and 3-4 females.It really depends on how big your tank is what other cichlids you can get.
September 15th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Definitely stick with African cichlids and ones about the same size. Cichlids are very territorial so when you introduce the new ones re-arrange your tank a bit. This will help deter territorial aggression as they will all be looking for a new area of the tank to call their own.
September 18th, 2009 at 10:12 am
All of your input about keeping them with Africans is the correct answer. Though you should note, not ALL Africans would work out however. The key is what one of the others already said, what is the tank footprint? Now seeing as you have South Americans already you have a major strike against you. Here’s a few good reasons why typically, it’s not a good idea to intermix these two.
1. The water chemistry preferences of these two groups are opposite. South Americans generally prefer softer more acidic waters and Africans prefer harder and more alkaline waters. There are a few people I’ve known have been able to group some South Americans with Africans. I actually have done this temporarily in my 75 gallon. I keep some larger more aggressive Africans I’ve spawned myself there, with a Datinoid Tiger Barb who’s a predator. I put 1 male and 2 female Convicts in with hopes they’ll breed. In most cases this isn’t advised. However once I can see a brood of Convicts, I can just as easily move the adults to their own tank and leave the fry as a food source for that Datinoid.
Again this is NOT considered something to do as advised, nor am I trying to claim I’m a major expert, but I’ve been working with mostly Africans for going on 2 years now, and feel I have good control over this situation. I’ve been able to get the Convicts to adapt to a PH of 7.9. A LITTLE lower then Africans would prefer but both groups are doing fine for over 6 months now and I watch that tank closely.
2. Temperments of the two don’t always match. With the example of the Convicts, they tend to be as aggressive as like an Auratus or the Jack Dempsey you mentioned when they are breeding. Most of your South Americans as well, you’ll see not just the female but the male as well watching over broods, where Africans basically spawn and leave everything to the female. It’s not always the case, but more times then not that’s what you’ll see. So when breeding comes around, you’ll probably see higher aggression out of the South Americans and someone’s going to get stressed.
3. If your South Americans are the ones you listed, Oscar, Jack Dempsey and Convicts, you really do NOT want to add an Electric Blue based on the water chemistry, temperment and probably space. My guess is, if you are keeping those three, that’s going to be probably something like a 150 gallon tank or up. Given the sheer size the Oscar will attain, and a Jack Dempsey is a rule the tank type of fish, I’m already surprised, if this is what you are keeping all in one tank, you haven’t encountered high aggression factors already. Add in the Convicts if they breed, and it will be TOO much for a milder tempermented Electric Blue.
My advice here is for now, start up a seperate African tank. I really suspect you’re going to find issues in that South American set up if that’s what you are keeping now as well. Electric blue’s are just too mild and would do better in an African tank to it’s own.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:11 am
We have recently set up a 6ft tank for African cichlids. We have 2 dragon peacocks, 2 electric yellows, 2 auratus, 2 clown loaches, 3 bumble bees, 2 blue dolphins, 2 tangerines. They’ve all been in there about a week. Yesterday we bought an electric blue, same size as the largest dragon peacock, but the poor thing is being constantly harassed by the peacock and I’m worried it’ll end in disaster!! Is the dragon just being territorial or have we made a mistake? Will the dragon eventually leave the blue alone?