# A compatibility question



## R/CBOONE72 (Jan 14, 2011)

I currently have a community freshwater tank. It is a 40g breeder. It is stocked with things like gold barbs, small tetras, a rubberlip pleco, danio, gold gourami. I also have pictus cats in there. My deal is that im getting a sw reef setup, and I am trying to decide whether to wipe my fw tank and use it or buy another tank. The deal breaker is that I have a peacock spiny eel, currently 6" and gets 12" and is a carnivore, not necessilary aggressive and he is a night dweller and a sand burrower. I also have 3 botia kubatia. If I keep freshwater these 4 fish must stay when I add cichlids. My question is will they do fine in a cichlid tank?? If they are not okay then the cichlid idea will be unfortunatly thrown out. I know in the tank I have now the botia definatly hold there own even against the pictus cats X3 there size. The botia will grow to 4-5" but are now 2-2.5". The cichlids I will get in the new year if I do it will be roughly same size as they will be young. I will also be keeping the pleco (3") because I hear they always do fine?? What are everyones thoughts?? If it is a complete fail of an idea as a cichlid setup then the the 5 freshwater fish I mentioned will be moved to my 20 gallon tank. If I do this cichlid system, only if the fish I want to keep together, the new and my current 5 i mentioned will survive, I will be buiding a sump filtration system to handle the large bio load of cichlids. The rest of the fish I mentioned at the start are all being given away. The barbs, tetras, cats, danios.

List of proposed cichlids: Reseached from people who have these in their 40g
-Cobalt Blue zebra 6"max semi ag.
-red jewel 5"max semi ag. Wish to have pair if I can find. if not then single
-yellow lab 5"max 
-psuedo acei 4.5"max school of 4
And can someone tell me if this fish can live in a cichlid tank as a single?? or must they be in a school. I like the coloring of the fish but I am sure I dont have room a school
-cynotilapia afra "cobue" 4" If I can find this fish for sale
-Pseudotropheus saulosi I concluded from reading that the blue one is male --and orange/yellow is female? I wish to have this pair
-neolamprologus tret "5 stripe tret" single

Thanks for all your help and submissions. I am not new to keeping fish and water parameters but I do not know the cichlids. I havve never seen them or owned them. I researched my best though.


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

> Pseudotropheus saulosi I concluded from reading that the blue one is male --and orange/yellow is female? I wish to have this pair


^This is correct.
I have been researching about African cichlids and P. saulosi is what I will get sometime in the future. I heard it is best to get at least 3 females for each male. And if you get fish the same color with similar marking I was told they might cross breed or fight. 
I don't know much about how compatible Africans are with the other cichlids you have listed. http://www.cichlid-forum.com has a bunch of info on cichlids and compatibility.


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

The loaches and the eel need soft, acidic water. African cichlids need hard alkaline water. Sorry that combination is not going to work.


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## elitesrock (May 4, 2011)

My acei's are very social. You would need at least 4 of them. I have 6 of them and they all swim together.


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## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

Keeping rift lake african cichlids with other types of fish can be done but there is risk and as mentioned they may require different types of water requirements (rift lake african cichlids enjoy and thrive in high pH (8.0-8.4), high alkaline, hard water). Generally, rift lake african cichlids are best kept with other compatible rift lake african cichlids.

As P.senegalus mentioned, when keeping both genders of the same african cichlids species, they're best kept in 'harems' because they are polygamous breeders (1 male per several females is the ideal gender ratio). Keeping a pair may result in the male overly harassing the sole female. Depending on the mbuna species (or personality of the particular mbuna) this can result in the death of the female.

Pseudotropheus sp. acei max out at 6" not 4".

African cichlids can be aggressive. The aggressive trait attributed to the cobalt blue zebra ("semi-aggressive") is most likely in the context of when kept with *other* african cichlids. For example, a "mildly aggressive" african cichlid is capable of being the most aggressive fish in a tank of community tropicals. The Neolamprologus tretocephalus (a lake tanganyika cichlid) is highly aggressive.

Tank size: a 55gal is generally the minimum tank size for keeping mbuna's. A 40gal may be too small in the long term (when considering the idea of keeping full grown specimens). 

Quantity: You don't necessarily have to have a group of them belonging to the same species, but most need to be kept in groups (quantity-wise) to counter-balance their aggressive nature. Larger numbers can decrease aggression. Small numbers and small aquariums can lead to increased aggression.


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