Mixing South American And African Cichlids

[bunty82]

Alright guys here is the updates i brought my last tank in jan 2007 it was 2ft around 16 gallon. and Now its a planted tank.

Here is the good news i just got a new tank its 4.5ft in length X18inch in breath X23 inch in height comes out to be 100gallon.
My dream tank.

What i am planing is to add the following fishes kindly tell me the compatibility, i heard that its better not to keep Africans and south american cichlids. thats why i make a choice out of these fishes please tell me in detail. I got the tank but still working on it so it will be help ful if u guys suggest a bit.

the fishes i am planing to keep are

Frontosa 2 pairs
blue dolpin 1 pair
red kandango 2 pair(if i found them its hard to find them here in India)
green terror.
red devil *****
firemouth fish
severum.
these are few choices i have to make.
its like i wanted to built a tank keeping frontosa and blue dolphins. so others are just inmates sort
the fishes can be increased or decreased accordingly
also suggest the lightening
as i will go with T5 lights blue and other shades.
filtration--i am thinking of putting two filters of 1000l/hr capacity or a canister filter please suggest.

also tell me what will be right feed for them.
brine shrimp, tetra bits.

 

[always4lora]

i'm not to up on fish , but i really wanted a Green Terror when i got my 4 ft tank but was advised against it , theyre supposed to be really aggresive to other fish , even things like oscars which are pretty large in size. Look nice but due tot he size and aggresiveness i'd probs keep them in species tank . But fish are fish you may get a peacefullish one. Firemouths look kool , theyre in my LFS look nice when theyre small . Severums are really nice fish

Food food depends on size i guess for the cilchids you can get pellets that they eat. think its like a complete food for them.

 

[Corleone]

Really, the tank's nowhere near big enough for all those fish, and you aren't really talking about heavy duty filtration with 2000 lph (wchich is in the neighborhood of the filtration on my 55). But, anyway, it's generally not a good idea mixing cichlids from different regions. They're all aggressive to some extent, but they have communication signals and sparring methods that let them test out each other's strength without an overt fight.

When you mix fish that have been isolated for eons, their signals are different and they fight differently - often meaning that a scuffle that between two Tanganyikan cichlids would have ended with nothing worse than bruised pride, between a Tang and a South American cichlid turns deadly. I'd post in both cichlid sections as well, as even mixing some African cichlids from Lake Tanganyika with Malawi cichlids is often inadvisable.

 

[Davo86]

Hi
ok, firstly i think its safe to say that when talking about these species 100G isn't a lot at all, a dominant Red Devil for example could easily take up the whole tank with its aggression,

by Red kangaroo do you mean Rusty Cichlid or something else?

so you definitely want the frontosa and Dolphins ? if so i would stick to these and maybe add something like n.leleupi and n.brichardi

Considering the size and the bio-load that the fish will have on the tank I would be looking at around 3000Lph of filtration at least

Diet will totally depend on your final stocking

 

[bunty82]

Brothers brothers brothers !

cos of all that complications i posted here.

SO that i get the right advice. You know what i mean.

Alright i will go for a 3000l/hr one of two.

diet " when i eat good then how can my fishes eat bad" lol !

Here is my planted tank pics.

 

[kribensis12]

No pics up. And that post made no sense to me whatever.

 

[erk628]

No pics up. And that post made no sense to me whatever.

LOL, thats the same thing I said after reading it over for the third time.

 

[dthoffsett]

Brothers brothers brothers !

cos of all that complications i posted here.

SO that i get the right advice. You know what i mean.

Alright i will go for a 3000l/hr one of two.

diet " when i eat good then how can my fishes eat bad" lol !

Here is my planted tank pics.

Do you want the best answer for your potential fish, or the answer that you want to hear? I'm not trying to be rude, just curious.

Corleone is absolutey correct in why South American and African Cichlids should not be mixed, so I won't expound on that.

I will point out that frontosa aren't pairing fish, they are harem breeders (where a single male will mate with as many females as possible), males can get up to 12", with females reaching around 10". As such, are are really best kept in a 6-ft tank.

Blue dolphins (cyrtocara moori) is another harem breeder, and should be kept in a minimum 125gal tank with very little decor.

red kandango (Copadichromis borleyi (Kadango) ) another harem breeder, suitable for your tank size, however should only be kept with other peaceful cichlids to avoid being bullied.

Green Terror - there are several species labeled as green terror, however, 'Aequidens' sp. "Silversaum" is the true Green Terror. Regardless they are recommend to be kept in a species tank due to their high aggression levels.

Firemouth (Thorichthys meeki), best kept in a peaceful or semi-aggressive cichlid community

Severum (Heros severus) best kept with other peaceful cichlids.

 

[bunty82]

Hi there Sorry, guys i was out for a week so wasnt able to reply
sorry that i didn't posted the pic of my planted tank MY BAD.


Ok its not like i want the answers in my way. And i know people usually post in forums the way i posted and no one is bothered to reply . Thing is this is the first forum i joined since i got my first 2 ft tank.

Regarding the suggestions i got I have seen people mixing CA/SA cichlids with African cichlids you can see that on youtube.

my question is how come they are so compatible.
Regarding green terror, yup same stories very territorial fish . Well if i plan to keep green terror what are the possible tank mates i can get.


My tank pics (2 ft planted)

The tank is having
plants
ludvigia, valiseneria , cabamba,deformis,Amazon sword.
fishes
4 rams(all female)
4 paradise fish
3 molly(soon to be transfered)
2 serpae tetra
2 pink tetra

with betta in a pepsi bottle as its winter time so he is in .

Right side view

 

[OldMan47]

A simple african that can be mixed with SA with very little trouble is the kribensis. It will mix fine with small SA and CA like rainbow cichlids or angels. The larger SA and CA that you have listed are just not good community fish and since even cichlids need companions that are either very peaceful or that they can understand, your proposed stocking makes no sense to me.

 

[drobbyb]

Just because you see people mixing them dosen't mean that you should. Is it possible? Definately.

 

[bunty82]

Alright but to be true most of the fishes what we saw in our LFS shops are tank breed. Not the wild caught, it means they are adapt to the condition worst or fine.

Btw i am planing for green terror, severum.venestus, dolphin fish and if i found then peacock haps

this list is final and frontosa is out its a very slow moving fish.

 

[dthoffsett]

Just because you see people mixing them dosen't mean that you should. Is it possible? Definately.

Yup. And a video on youtube doesn't give you the whole story, just a pretty picture.

I honestly think you should do a lot more research on the species that will fit in your tank (see my earlier post), maybe pick one main cichlid you are interested in (and can house) and then find what can live with it.

As for the green terror, I have no experience with them, just what I've read. Your best chance for informed answers is in the New World section, however, I can tell you that the level of aggression will depend on the individual fish. While it is said they are an aggressive species, you may come across the odd individual that is fairly peaceful, or one that will kill any and all tankmates, it's just the luck of the draw.

Your planted tank is beautiful by the way.

 

[dthoffsett]

Alright but to be true most of the fishes what we saw in our LFS shops are tank breed. Not the wild caught, it means they are adapt to the condition worst or fine.

Btw i am planing for green terror, severum.venestus, dolphin fish and if i found then peacock haps

this list is final and frontosa is out its a very slow moving fish.

Just saw this after I posted my last comment. I really wish you would rethink your stocking and save yourself some frustration and fish deaths.

They may be tank bred and can handle differing water conditions but that doesn't change their forms of communication. First of all, as I pointed out before, the dolphin fish (cyrtocara moori) need a minimum of 125gals, as do the venustus. Not only that, but the venustus (Nimbodichromis venustus) and green terror are going to be constantly fighting (and I'm not sure who would win that one), the peacocks are going to be bullied as well as the severum.

If you are determined to go with this stocking, I wish you the best of luck, but try not to get mad when your fish start killing each other off.

 

[bunty82]

guys mine is a 100g tank.

After reading costantly i finalized
on this
peacock haps and frontosa only no other mates. And if this didnt worked out i will sell of the tank.
whats the need if you kind keep what you like

guys btw green terror can't be kept with any other species.