johanni or socolofi and tankmates

[MAM]

i have fallen in love with johannis and socolofis . mainly for 1) their colorations and 2) their availability around here. from my reading they are both fairly aggressive fish, and with the johannis i've read they aren't even all that tolerent of their own kind. i am interested in getting a single johanni or a single socolofi (NOT one of each) and some top swimmers of some sort, but was wondering if a johanni or a socolofi would be fine alone, and also if they would tolerate, say, cory cats (2 inch variety, not little pandas) on the bottom with them and some sort of top level swimmer (ie. tetras/rasboras, etc)
any advice welcomed!!!!

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Mbuna tend to leave catfish alone, but there is never a guarantee, many a catfish kept with cichlids has gone blind for it.

The only community fish that can live with these types of fish must be large enough not to be eaten and fast enough to easily swim away. Most tetras do not work.

What size tank are you looking at using?

 

[MAM]

haven chosen a tank yet. whats the miniumum? also, would a single johanni or a single soco be okay?

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Yes, either one kept singly would be fine, although I personally don't think a single mbuna makes for a very exciting tank. All of their behavior, when not foraging for food, involves social interaction with other fish, including breeding and defending the territory.

Socolofi are aggressive, but not complete terrors. Johanni are much worse. For a single specimen the tank size doesn't matter much, they can live quite comfortably in a tank as small as 20 gallons. If you really want the most out of these fish then I would suggest getting a harem, one male to four or more females. For this kind of setup I wouldn't go less then 40 gallons. More important then volume is aquarium length - a hex tank, for example, would be a terrible tank for these fish.
Also, If you choose to go the harem route and you are getting the fish young then you would need to purchase a bunch of them and then thin out extra males as they mature, they're impossible to sex when juvinile.

 

[MAM]

thanks ca, will hold off for now then. now at least i have some firepower to give the bf when convining him i need that 55 gal we've been eyeing sooner

 

[PappaLove]

I would not have a single mbuna. And i wouldnt have any unless u have sufficent caves and the like.

A single mbuna will not as a rule display the best colours and the ones u are thinking are agressive but beautiful fish.

IMO i would only keep MBUNA with MBUNA unless it was a very large tank then i would consider adding some alunacara but then only if there was sufficiant rock work for the MBUNA but plenty of swimming space for the Alunacara.

Oh and your corries would probably be in for trouble. For top swimmers u could consider Hacthet fish but it didnt work when i tried it. not to say it wont work for someone else. I hope this helps a little