Cichlids And Cleaner Fish

[petebuster1]

Its seems as i'm in a very hard water area African cichlids will be the way to go, now 2 questions are 3 or 4 species ok together? and what cleaner shrimps,loaches etc would i be able to put in with them?

 

[markandhisfish]

3 or 4 species together would work fine ,the male to female ratio is important . general rule of thumb is 1 male to 3 females . as for cleanup crew i would expect shrimp to lastr all of 5 mins . a better option would be a bristlenose p[lec

 

[elisew]

A lot will depend on the size of the tank you have?

 

[petebuster1]

A lot will depend on the size of the tank you have?

its a juwel 240 l 40 x 16 inches

 

[elisew]

A lot will depend on the size of the tank you have?

its a juwel 240 l 40 x 16 inches

Ok cool. As Mark says, you can easily look at 4 or 5 different species in a tank that size however, shrimps or other small cleaner fish will become lunch as the African cichlids are a lot more aggressive than the standard tropical fish so it`s not a good idea to be adding them to an African setup

Do you have any idea on the species of fish you`d like to keep?

 

[markandhisfish]

a good idea would be to decide on that species you simply have to have and then select the rest to suit

 

[petebuster1]

Yellow Nape,Blue Johanni,yellow cichlid and peacock i'm thinking of,i cant find much info on cleaners for this set up so any suggestions appreciated

 

[petebuster1]

Yellow Nape,Blue Johanni,yellow cichlid and peacock i'm thinking of,i cant find much info on cleaners for this set up so any suggestions appreciated

any other suggestions for cleaner fish? thanks

 

[fluttermoth]

I'd just like to point out that there are no real 'cleaner fish'.

All fish will produce more waste than they eat; you should have them because you like them and want them and not to do a job for you.

 

[Fishy friend2]

my uncle has 2 cory cats with a cichlid

 

[fluttermoth]

That doesn't make it right though, does it?

 

[markandhisfish]

ive already said that if you want something to get uneaten food/ keep algae on the rocks down a bristlenose plec is your best bet