Cichlid Tankmates

[catterbury]

Hey all, my first post here on this forum, hope i don't sound dull or anything with it, but i was just wondering if anyone could tell me if i was able to have either crabs or shrimps in my african cichlid tank? Also, i have bad algae problems, i seem to have to clean the glass and coral sub every week. Even though i have a Synadontis, he doesnt seem to be interested in eating any of it, is there any other kind of algae eater i could put in with these fish? I heard you could have a standard sucking loach with them.. is this true? Didn't want to try until i knew it was definitely safe. Many thanks in advance for any answers!

 

[sharktale]

Hi, bristlenose catfish are great for eating the algae. I have 1 in my rio 400 cichlid tank and she does a great job Don't know if I'd add the crabs

 

[catterbury]

Is it possible for me to add the bristlenose in with my Synadontis, or would i have to get rid of him? I need to get rid of some of my fish anyway, it is far too overstocked imo, 26 small-medium (4ish inches) sized fish in my Rio 240 (without the horrible black filter, if that adds a little bit more room) and only using a Fluval 305 filter so i want to sort it all out asap. Thanks for the reply!

 

[skiltrip]

i have a syno and a pleco in together and they are fine. they ignore each other for the most part. they don't compete much really as the pleco likes to suck on the glass and rocks, and the syno sifts thru the substrate feeding off food layin at the bottom.

 

[dthoffsett]

Hey all, my first post here on this forum, hope i don't sound dull or anything with it, but i was just wondering if anyone could tell me if i was able to have either crabs or shrimps in my african cichlid tank? Also, i have bad algae problems, i seem to have to clean the glass and coral sub every week. Even though i have a Synadontis, he doesnt seem to be interested in eating any of it, is there any other kind of algae eater i could put in with these fish? I heard you could have a standard sucking loach with them.. is this true? Didn't want to try until i knew it was definitely safe. Many thanks in advance for any answers!

Synos won't eat algae anyways. As others have said bristlenose plecos work really well with african cichlids, they are tough enough to handle the cichlids "curiosity", and docile enough not to attack. Crabs aren't really a good idea since cichlids staysclose to the bottom, crabs are nocturnal hunters and would easily be able grab a sleeping fish. That said, I've seen several people keep them w/no problems, but they have all be in large (100gal or more) setups. You can keep shrimp if you don't mind the cichlids eating them, the shrimp won't like it, but your fish will love you.

 

[Irf]

Sorry to jump in on this thread, but I'm also curious about this question as I'm about to start stocking my cichlid setup.

It seems that 't will be OK to combine BN catfish with cichlids, but what about some other form of cleaner as well? My substrate is sand, and it would be great if there was something that could help me keep it clean!

Irf.

 

[jollysue]

Two things.

First, a great algae controller is to simply break up the light cycle into 4 hours two times a day with several hours between. Plants and fish need a total of 8 hours but not necessarily all at one time. The algae needs 8 hours straight. I picked it up in the plant forum, I believe. It works even on hair algae. Wish it worked on the snails.

Second, do the BN/plecs tolerate the high ph?

 

[catterbury]

I have my lights on 6 hours a day, from 5pm when i get home from work until 11pm when i usually go to bed, but my algae problem is terrible. I have green spots that are hard to scrub off appearing on the glass, followed by some white'ish' sort of hair or 'mucusy' algae that just wipes off instantly with the magnetic glass scraper, but its just the hassle. Any ideas?

 

[jollysue]

What I was told: keep the light segments to four hour intervals. Use a timer. I can control my algae by using it. My 100 usg community planted tank was succumbing to hair algae growing on everything including the plants. By regulating the light segments I was able to keep it controlled. Start by shutting off the lights for a bit (I forget how long exactly--a week or more) if it is really bad like mine was. If you want to grow plants though, they must have enough light total. If not just keep it under 4 hours a lot. For really expert advise check out the plant section.

Maybe it's the algae needs more than 4 hours straight.

You will still need to use a magnet once in awhile.

 

[jollysue]

I also have apple snails--they help with algae.

 

[dthoffsett]

Second, do the BN/plecs tolerate the high ph?

As long as you don't get wild caught, they'll do just fine in the higher ph since they most likely were not bred and raised in the water conditions found in the wild.

 

[jollysue]

So smaller BN would acclimate. Would I add calcium slowly to the QT? As I remember my BN I once had loved their bog wood. They spent more time sucking the wood than the algae.

Fronties would not get to big for them to handle?