# What can go with my African cichlids?



## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Just picked two of them up. I just want to know what other type of chichlids I can have with them. Also I'm not even positive what type of cichlid they are because the person in the fish dept. today was really no help at all the card said "African cichlid" and one looks about the same as the other body wise but not color. 

One has like a orange color on the top of the fin

Other one is like striped almost but is not a convict. I'll try to post pictures when they come out of the rocks


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I found one!! He is staying in this same spot I dropped in some food to see if they would come out. He did but quickly went back in 



















The other one didn't come out at all but I seen a quick flash of him darting to te rocks.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Got it! 

Here's the other one, 

The tank they came out of said "African cichlid" but had 3 different pictures of fish... Makes it hard for me to understand


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)




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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

the one with the yellow fins is a peacock....most likely a mix of a couple of varieties..
the only other fish you can put in with rift lake cichlids is other rift lake cichlids...a lot of people feel that you can mix all kinds together....bottom line is that if god wanted them together , he would have put them together....sure ; some may adapt to either a higher or lower PH ; but that in not how it is meant to be..just like putting plecos in with rifts....
sorry but it is just plain wrong...maybe some rift lake synodontis...


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I have been peacefully waiting for you to come around today lol. 


This what your talking about?









Also I wanted to add more cichlids since I only got two. Is there other types with more color? Ugh I wish I waited now lol.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i kind of like the zebras as the males will change coloration from drab to glowing pale electric blue in seconds..demasoni are also nice..very very blue..electric yellows...see if you can find labeotropheus fullebourni...a very cool fish in either standard or OB morph...
i would stay away from the mutts or fish that you don't have the actual species name and know that it is not a hybrid...some of the peacock variations will knock your eyes out...
but get a small group of the same morph....and make sure not to mix with any others....

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=i...s&biw=1680&bih=867&sei=qfDuT9qgEqyr2AXP4cyvAQ

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=i...i&biw=1680&bih=867&sei=_vHuT9vfDcrM2AWp1omJAg


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I'll have to keep an eye out for some of them. I'm heading to Milwaukee today to see my grandpa and I know there's a huge fish store out there so I'll have to check it out.

Thanks for the info, I'm surprised no one else here could chime in.

Im going to check for the zebras, would be nice to see it change colors.


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## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

The fish that you posted photo's of in post #2 of this thread has the look of a dimidiochromis species, possibly a juvenile d. strigatus (if it's one of those it will get upwards of 10-11" and will require a 6ft tank..~125gal+).


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

On the size chart it didn't say it got that big


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## Superfly724 (Sep 16, 2007)

The label also said "African Cichlids", but there are over 300 different species of fish under the label of African Cichlids, so there's no way the chart covered all of them. The smallest shell-dwelling African Cichlids are measured in centimeters, while the Emperor Cichlid can get up to 3 feet long. The vague labeling of Africans really bugs me, especially when the employees aren't helpful.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Yea that kind of sucked when I got no info on them. What also bothers me is impulse buys. And that's exactly what I did with them to. I got a electic yellow in with them now and there all getting along pretty good. I am looking to add 2 electic blue and 2 more yellows and call it finished. but so far the 3 in there are doing well together so im happy thus far. I also picked up another filter today it's a bio wheel filter with regular filter pads in there that's rated for a 75g tank. My other one is rated for a 60g tank so I'm hopping both filters are going to cut down on maintenance also.


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## OhYesItsMe (Oct 1, 2011)

I hope you realize that it is a really good and safe idea to over stock and double filter because these guys get real agressive i have a 55 and I plan to get at least 15 at the lfs they are young and like 1-2" but most get 4-6 in as adults, if you have 2 adults lets say because you don't want a lot of fish and really want to under stock for some reason, the stronger one will kill the weaker one the younger you get them, the more tolerant they will be of each other as adults. And the more you have the more the aggression will be spread out. This is a case when over stocking (with good filtration and water changes) will save fish. Anoher good tip is when you add more fish, change around the decor right before you add the new fish to break up existing territories. They also like a high ph (7.5-9 ish). Sorry if I went over stuff others said but hope this helps!


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

That helps and I have way more then enough filtration now. I planned on keeping like 8 in the tank witch a few people have already told me its to much. That's the reason I got a lot bigger of a filter.


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## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

Cory1990 said:


> ...I planned on keeping like 8 in the tank witch a few people have already told me its to much...


With mbuna's and perhaps most other types of rift lake african cichlids in general, 8 is probably the *bare minimum *you'll want to stock with. On the lines of what OhYesItsMe said, smaller group size can have a way of magnifying overall aggression as it makes 'singling-out' easier. (Singled-out fish can be at risk of elimination).

For example, 5 fish that are harassed by one hyperdominant fish have it a lot worse than 15 fish that are harassed by one hyperdominant fish.

Ideally, you'd want to stick to a single grouping of african cichlids; as it is now you have three african cichlids belonging to three different lake malawi cichlid groups (you have a peacock, a hap and a mbuna).

For the best chance of success with malawi's you'd want to stock all-mbuna, all-peacocks or all-haps (the size of your current tank rules the latter option).


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I got 4 more cichlids today making it 7 I have one blue cichlid no idea what he was called but he's chasing all my other fish out of the rocks, it doesn't seem like he's nipping but more happy to be out of the tiny tank he was held in. I also got all of them vary small a guy at a pet store told me to do it this way so all of then are under 2" big. My tank looks like its coming to life now.


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