Advice on compatibility please

[chezster]

Hi Guys

My ignorance has got me into a bit of a mess - hope you can advise.

I have recently finished cycling my new 4' malawi tank and decided it was time to add some fish.

I have added the fish over a 2 week period in this order:

4 zebras (bought from local breeder)
3 Labs (from lfs)
2 Melanos
3 Red Empress
3 Blue Dolphins

The set up looks great and they seem to be fitting in well - I even have a pair of zebras preparing to breed (in their little corner they defend!).

OK NOW THE PROBLEM

I took some photos of my new additions to show my work colleague (a fish fan) and he has pointed out that the zebras I have are actually central american (convicts) and not Malawi.

What an idiot am I!


Could someone tell me if these will be ok together or if I should re-house the zebras (that I love).



Thanks in advance

 

[JeremyD]

Without actual species names it would be impossible for me to tell you what is compatible. But most certainly, convicts do not belong in a malawi tank, much less and Mbuna tank.

 

[chezster]

Here are the latin names:

4 zebras (bought from local breeder) Archocentrus (Cichlasoma) nigrofasciatus
thought I was buying: Pseudotropheus zebra


They look like the ones on these site:

Malawi zebra
Convict zebra

3 Labs (from lfs) Labidochromis caeruleus
2 Melanos MELANOCHROMIS AURATUS
3 Red Empress Protomelas Taeniolatus
3 Blue Dolphins Cyrtocara moorii

 

[JeremyD]

Ouch............

Aside from the cons not being able to to stay in the tank, the haps most certainly wont be able to stay either. The auratus will tear them up in no time. They are probably THE single most agressive african cichlid out there. There are very few species you can sucessfully keep with them. And If you got a male, and not 2 females, you are pretty much guaranteed to end up with only 1 fish in a month.

 

[vantgE]

you've gotta chooser a hap or mbuna tank

Mbuna means keep labs and aurauts
Hap means keep moori and you could keep the labs although they don't belong and the convict may be possible if not a breeding pair although it is not recomended

In the mbuna tank you need more auratus 1 male 3-4 female
One more lab wouldn't hurt, and then as long as you keep agrisive to semi agrisive mbuna for the rest with the same male/female ratio for the auratus you'd be fine
possible species, melanchromis johanni, maylandia lombardoi, pseudtropheus demasoni, are all popular beutiful fish that won't be hard to find, although there is others
for the hap tank It would be better to drop all the fish but the moori but if you wanna keep them it's like i said above but i don't know much about other sorts of tanks so can't help much sorry

 

[semper fi]

if the convicts are pairng up, i would not keep them with either species of fish. cons are very aggressive for the haps when breeding and with the mbuna it would be a battlefield. also, convicts are central americans and should not be mixed with the africans. convicts are water bunnies and fry are from 150-250 a spawn about every 6-8 weeks.

if you are going with the mbuna tank, they are less aggressive overstocked. also mbuna aggression is lowered by three females to every male, the more females the better. i would get a selection of mbuna. if you have auratus, i would stay away from chippokaes. the two will crossbreed and are equally aggressive. imo, the labs are too peaceful for the auratus. bumblebees, kennyi, johanni are pretty common fish and do well with the more aggressive mbunas

 

[chezster]

Thanks for all you advice.

I guessed I would have to get rid of the convicts. As for the rest - it seems my lfs doesn't know what it's talking about.

I'm a bit confused - you say I can keep the auratus with the lab.c but I thought the labs were peaceful, will they not get beat up?

Will the moori be ok with my red empress cos these are deffinatly my favourites.
If so what other tank mates would be ok?

I'm sooooo confused!!!

 

[Vip]

i say the auratus will beat up both the convicts, if they wernt breeding they might get along, but its true what people are saying they dont belong there due to the water being differnt for CA Cichlids.

 

[JeremyD]

I'm a bit confused - you say I can keep the auratus with the lab.c but I thought the labs were peaceful, will they not get beat up?

If you are lucky, you can get away with it. But if you've got a male, forget about it. I had a male once. I also had about 18 other fish in that tank (all more agressive Mbuna species as well). In less than a month I was down to 10 and decided it was his time to go. I gave him away to a friend who has tried breeding him on several ocassions. He has killed all the females he has placed him with. Now he lives in a 20g tank all by himself.

Yellow labs are one of the less agressive species, but many people have sucess with them in the mbuna tank. But I really wouldnt place them with any Melanochromis species at all. Even my johanni has beat up yellow labs in the community.

 

[semper fi]

if you are only picking out a few species of fish, do not keep the labs with the other mbuna.

the red empress andmooris together will be fine as far as aggression. i have kept my mooris with red empress. mooris are great fish. very playful and peaceful. beautiful fish as well as the empress. with the empress you will want to stay away from any finnipping fish.

 

[chezster]

Thanks for your advice

I really like the moori and red empress - I would like to keep quite a few different species in the tank as well.

If someone could advise me of some others which would go well I can swap my bad choices (auratus and Lab. c) at the lfs for something more suitable before they start to form territories.

I don't want any deaths or unhappy fish - please help.



My tank details are:

48 * 12 * 18 tank
Fluval 304 canister
300watt heater
Power glo/Marine glo lights
Coral Sand
Plenty of rocks and caves

 

[semper fi]

if it was me, i would only rehouse or return the auratus. labs would be peaceful enough for the empress and moori.