Hello,
It seems there are many experts in here on African Cichlids. I think I am going to stock my tank with some.

I have a 55 gallon tank that is a new setup. Here are some of the cichlids I have been looking at. Any feedback would be great. I am thinking 5 or 6 fish tops plus a pleco.

Blood Red Jewel Cichlid
Clown Tilpia
Blue Peacock
Orange Zebra
Rep Top Hongi
Yellow Tail Acei
Chilumba
Compressed Cichlid
Lemon


I would like to know what fish will get along and I really dont want a over populated tank. Any info would be great.

I have had Jack Dempseys and Convicts in the past.

-Thanks

Brent Czech

All right - here goes

1) red jewel cichlid - cannot keep with any other fish as they will kill everything else during breeding. Really nasty during this time. I you go this route, then stick to a species tank.

2) Clown tilapia - I know nothing about this fish

3) blue peacock - I wasn't sure on this specific peacock species so I did some digging and it sounds like most other peacocks. Not very aggressive (relative to other cichlids) although it is somewhat aggressive toward its own species. Do not keep wih mbunas as they will get beaten up. Make good tankmates for most haps though.

4) Orange zebra - I assume you mean red zebra (even though they are orange, they are called red). These are mbunas and are pretty aggressive. They can take over a tank easily. I keep 1 male with 3 females and they do well with the demasoni and yellow labs. Do not keep with the peacocks or they will probably kill them.

5) Red Top Hongi - did not know too much about this guy so I looked some stuff up. They are from the same family as yellow labs and seem to have similar characteristics. They are mildy aggressive just like the lab and like all other mbunas, should not be kept with less aggressive species (aka peacocks).

6) Yellow Tail Acei - very nice fish, but can get aggressive. A nice group like I have with my red zebras (1 male and 3-4 females) would work.

7) Chilumba - don't know much about these guys, but I did look them up. If you like the black and blue vertical stripe look, but a fish that does not get to be 6-7", I would recommend demasoni. I have some and they are really great fish (although aggressive - keep in larger groups).

8) Compressed cichlid - fairly aggressive fish again and I have heard they can be quite fragile although I have never kept them myself so I cannot vouch for this. It is just what I have heard.

7) Lemon - supposed to be relatively peaceful, but I have heard numerous stories of these guys being very aggressive toward other species. I guess it just depends.

Overall, it looks like a nice list. There are some obvious compatibility issues, but other than that, they all seemed to be the right size. I would also suggest that you look at yellow labs and demasoni to see if you like them. I absolutely love my yellow labs.

If I were you, I would pick a family an go with it. For instance, do a mbuna tank or pick from the several species you have from Lake Tang. I know you don't want an overcrowded tank, but most these guys top out at 6". If you have 5-6 fish, you are actually quite understocked. I would at least recommend 9-10 fish. Just my opinion though.

Hopefully that helps a little.

Yes, most African cichlids have aggression problems. I would definitely not recommend getting 6 different species with 1 of each kind. I wrote an article about cichlid aggression and controlling it in the article section of this site (click on the article tab at the top of the page and look in the freshwater section). It will walk you through how to mediate some of this aggression (although it will never totally go away). I recommend that you read it.

The most important thing is to get fish that are of the same aggressiveness and adult size. The next most important thing is the ratio of males to females of the same species. For example, I have 2 male yellow labs and 4 females. Now, the males chase the females around all day long and dance and shake to try and entice them to mate. If I only had 1 male and 1 female for instance, then that poor female would be running around for her life all day long and would eventually die. By combining multiple females per male, you ensure that the males have to spread their chasing out to multiple fish so it gives each female a chance to rest. Also, I have found that the males color up better if there is competition in the tank. If you have 2 males in the tank (for most species - some you cannot keep two males together in a 55 gallon) then you will get one that will be dominant and one that will be submissive. The dominant one will really color up to show his dominance.

Some species (such as the demasoni) are pretty much impossible to tell male and females apart (other than a process called venting). In these cases, it is usually recommended that you keep a minimum of 12 together so they spread their aggression around (although I have kept 8 together and they ended up fine).

So, in summary, with you size tank - I would pick 2-3 species and go for 4-5 fish per species if keeping 2 species and go with 3-4 fish per species if keeping 3 species. This of course can change depending on what exact species you pick, but I am just giving a general idea. If you decide which species you want, let me know and I can tell you how to tell males and females apart if it is possible for that particular species. That will be the most important thing.

Again, yellow labs are amazing. Two of my females are holding at the moment. The males dance for the females all day long and are really beautiful. Definitely recommend these guys. I also really like the contrast between them and the demasoni as it looks really nice in a tank, but that is just my personal opinion.

Let me know what else you need to know.

may i suggest that you keep cichlids only from a certain part of africa together since they are all pretty aggressive. of course then theres the south american cichlids.

Well thanks for all the suggestions. This is what I think I'm going to do. I am going to get two plecos next week and put them in. A week later if all is well I am going to try to get the following

3 Demasoni
3-4 Yellow Lab
3 Red Zebras

I would like to start there. My local place (in Las Vegas) has all these fish about 2" in size for $7.00 each.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks again.

-Brent

i agree with miami... if you just want to get a couple of fish or fish in small numbers i wouldn't get the p. demasoni... my friend got 8 in his 55g tank and the males started killing eachother in a couple of months... i had 12 in my 60g and in no time i had a healthy breeding colony...

instead of the demasoni and red zebras get 5 yellow labs, and 5 sp. "hongi" SRT... that would be an awesome tank right there... both of them have the same temerment, and can live peacefully as one colony...