# What chiclids???



## Saff (Jun 9, 2007)

what chiclids can be housed in a comunity tank with mollies,guppies,angels,neons,red finned shark,sucking fish and ghost shrimp????
and what small chiclids are good for small speices tanks??
thanks : victory:,
Saff xxx


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## Saff (Jun 9, 2007)

i love these but i think they get too big for a comunaty tank are there any smaller spieces??


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## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

i have kept convicts with Comunity fish and i have a pair of Kribs in there at mo, theres also thinks like german rams :flrt: or Satanoperca jurapari or Geophagus daemon but they are quite large Mesoauta festivus (Festivum) or Heros severus (Severum) again reasonable sized peaceful cichlids,Severums will destroy any plants urm Rainbow chiclids are peacefull looking at getting some of them myself.


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## Saff (Jun 9, 2007)

thanks ill have to look out for some of thouse!: victory:
what about parrot fish are they peacful?
thanks bosshogg!,
saff xx


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## carpy (Nov 13, 2007)

Hi

what size is the tank? it really all rests on that. i would say convicts or other cryptoheros, but in a smallish tank they may ell fight with the shark over territory. that said, i suggest you look into cryptoheros sajica, if you get genuine sagica they are absolute stunners, and lovely fish to watch. i have bred them, high red sajica, and gold fin sajica for 4 years, and i love em to bits!

apart from that i would suggest you look into pelvicachromis, or nanochromis. these are small peaceful west african cichlids, the most common of which is the Krib.

I would not recommend satanoperca sp. including satanoperca daemon and jurupari, as these, whilst being relatively peaceful, get large and have the ability to swallow small fish. They also require soft slightly acidic water to thrive.

Rainbow cichlids are often thought of as being charming little fish, but mine (wild caught) were alot more aggressive than people give them credit for. 

another nice small cichlid is neetroplus nematopus, but do not be tempted. these are very aggressive, active fish.i kept my pair in a 5 foot tank with a big pair of amphilophus macracanthus and they were able to fend them off no problem.

Alex


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## carpy (Nov 13, 2007)

Saff said:


> thanks ill have to look out for some of thouse!: victory:
> what about parrot fish are they peacful?
> thanks bosshogg!,
> saff xx


parrot fish are hybridised, selectively bred fish. they are entirely man made, with many people going even further by tettooing them, or dyeing them by injecting dyes. This fish has been inbred and hybridised to such an extent, that they can no longer shut their mouth. why choose one when you have a huge selection of stunning natural cichlids that are more suitable. and yes they are aggressive.: victory:

Alex


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## Saff (Jun 9, 2007)

i think my tank is a 30-40? gallon not sure though think its that.......
i didnt know parrots were hybrids :blush:


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## carpy (Nov 13, 2007)

Saff said:


> i think my tank is a 30-40? gallon not sure though think its that.......
> i didnt know parrots were hybrids :blush:


ya do now:Na_Na_Na_Na:

the ones you most likely have seen are hybrids. the real parrot cichlid is a large central american cichlid hoplarchus psittacus. not recommended for your tank though!

bearing in mind the tank you quoted, i would suggest you look into either cryptoheros sajica or kribs. they are the best candidates. i would not go for convict cichlids unless you only want one. if you get a pair (like sajica) they will breed, literally every other week. with sajica, you will be able to sell them as they are saught after, unlike convicts

Alex


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## Saff (Jun 9, 2007)

so how big would cryptoheros sajica get?and could they be housed alone (with no other cryptoheros sajica)?
i used to have some blue rams in there wich i loved but we got white spot and over half of my fish died 
but im now trying to stock the tank back up after waiting a few months for things to clear up........


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## carpy (Nov 13, 2007)

yea, they can live alone. female sajica should stay around 3" while males get to around 5" saying that, my 11 year old pair were breeding all the time, and the male was easily 8".

you can keep them alone, but i woud suggest getting a male and a female, as their courtship display and breeding colouration is stunning. you can sex them very easily becuase the rear part of a females dorsal fin is golden yellow.

i think people also call them jade eye cichlids, for their bright blue eyes! altogether a fish well worth waiting for!


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

sajica will mug your guppies. I used to feed mine guppies as a treat so probably should avoid them to be on the safe side.

Most cichlids will have a go at guppies. You might be alright with any of the anomala (i recommend N. Anomala, "blue faced dwarf cichlid), apistogramma. Kribs might go for the guppies and rams might as well. Problem with cichlids is they are pretty intelligent and as such have personalities. So two individuals of the same species may behave in completely different ways.

festivum, daemons and severums will not live with guppies unless you are very lucky


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## gazz (Dec 9, 2006)

There are a fair few south american dwarf cichlids but they have better lifes if your water is soft not hard.Your local aquatic center shoud beable to tell you if your water is hard or soft if you take some to them.If you have soft water there's quite a list to choose from.Dwarf Cichlid Photos

Bolivian ram cichlid-(MICROGEOPHAGUS ALTISPINOSUS) are very hardy and do well in hard or soft water types.And are a non aggressive species.

Bolivian ram's.










There is ofcourse the kribensis cichlids-(PELVICACHROMIS PULCHER).The down side is that some breeding pairs take things a bit to far and some pair have been known to kill each other.But if you get the right pair there's no 
problem with them there normal colour and a morph colour-(ALBINO).

Normal krib.









Albino krib.


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## Saff (Jun 9, 2007)

just bought two lovly normal kribs!would of got albinos as i liked them better but they didnt have any


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## carpy (Nov 13, 2007)

mike515 said:


> sajica will mug your guppies. I used to feed mine guppies as a treat so probably should avoid them to be on the safe side.
> 
> Most cichlids will have a go at guppies. You might be alright with any of the anomala (i recommend N. Anomala, "blue faced dwarf cichlid), apistogramma. Kribs might go for the guppies and rams might as well. Problem with cichlids is they are pretty intelligent and as such have personalities. So two individuals of the same species may behave in completely different ways.
> 
> festivum, daemons and severums will not live with guppies unless you are very lucky


i kept my sajica with wc blue guppies with no problems. as long as the guppies stayed away when they were breeding/had fry it was fine. and in a 5 tank where 1 side is rocky with flowerpots for spawning, and shallower like a bank and the other is planted and deep that was no problem


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## wheaty5 (Feb 3, 2008)

well ino its not ideal but i have various cichlids in with community fish, i have various malawi cichlids a few firemouths a coupe of kribensis, an eastern european ram and there all fine in with guppys, neon tetras harlequins, flying foxes etc


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

wheaty5 said:


> well ino its not ideal but i have various cichlids in with community fish, i have various malawi cichlids a few firemouths a coupe of kribensis, an eastern european ram and there all fine in with guppys, neon tetras harlequins, flying foxes etc


wait til the malawis mature. :crazy:

seriously, in a few months you will have a tank with a few malawi chiclids in... nothing else. 

also, they need a very high pH... which you cant possibly have in your tank.

I suggest you get rid of everything except the ram, neons, guppys and harlequins. : victory:


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## wheaty5 (Feb 3, 2008)

nope had them in there for 2 , 2 and half years so im not gna change now, 

appreciate the advice tho m8


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## carpy (Nov 13, 2007)

wheaty5 said:


> well ino its not ideal but i have various cichlids in with community fish, i have various malawi cichlids a few firemouths a coupe of kribensis, an eastern european ram and there all fine in with guppys, neon tetras harlequins, flying foxes etc


yea, that is a little more than not ideal.

malawi's need lots of rocks, and very hard alkaline water
ram needs soft slightly acidic water - and with those cichlids in there it wont be there for long
firemouths will kick the bollocks out of everything, and need neutral water, poss slightly alkaline
neons, harlequins and guppies wont be in there for long

i would really suggest you sell some of them - i would sell the malawi and firemouths as they arent suited to the aquarium you describe, and quite frankly it is poor husbandry, as they (malawi's) need specific care


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## wheaty5 (Feb 3, 2008)

well they have all been in the same tank for around 2 and a half years and maybe 1 guppy has died so i think im ok, 


i appreciate your advice though, thank you


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## snakelover (Dec 17, 2006)

Kribs will as i have done it, also RAMS, butthe rams fight with each other whan i had them, the i swaped my cumminity tank for a malwi tank.


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

wheaty5 said:


> nope had them in there for 2 , 2 and half years so im not gna change now,
> 
> appreciate the advice tho m8


you might theink they're fine, but they wont be.

its like keeping a corn in a 2ftx1ftx1ft glass box, feeding it a fuzzy once a week and keeping it at 75 degrees.

Will it survive? Probably.

Will it be happy? Probably not. 

Don't forget that fish are animals too - they feel pain, and you should always strive to give them the best environment possible. :no1:


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

malawis and rams together. not exactly a good idea. Just because they willlive together does't mean they should have to. 'and the firemouths as well. sorry dude but that isn't fair on any of the fish involved.

but hey your clearly not gonna listen anyway


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## johno (Mar 4, 2008)

ive just gave up keeping malawi's & the only one that people would say you can are yellow labs but as people will advise you all malawi's are aggressive compared to tropicals


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## Lee N (Aug 31, 2007)

most cichlids get big from what ive been told malawi cichlids and tanganikan cichilds can only mix with their own cichilds.


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## johno (Mar 4, 2008)

true statment.but in some shops you will see mixed and you will get told they are ok i think when they are young / small its possible but once they get bigger thats when aggression becomes a factor.


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

it's not just the aggression. The fact is that they need high pH and very hard water. Many fish come from much softer less alkaline water and should not be kept in rift valley conditions. the only fish i'd ever mix with Rift valley cichlids (thats the valley which lake malawi, tanganiyka and Lake victoria are in) are synodontis catfish. There's a few other fish you can mix in and I used to have a Mbu puffer in my malawi tank. Thats because Mbus come from Lake Tanganiyka and are too big to get killed by the cichlids.


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## daddycool (Jan 22, 2007)

carpy said:


> yea, that is a little more than not ideal.
> 
> malawi's need lots of rocks, and very hard alkaline water
> ram needs soft slightly acidic water - and with those cichlids in there it wont be there for long
> ...


I have to agree.....
although i'd sell the rest and just keep Malawis

why have community, when you can keep beautiful rift valley cichlids.... in a rocky tank.....
and they will get big and impressive looking and show good breeding colours, and live for years...poss 15 depending on type...

so many types of cichlid, try and keep to one area of the world is best....ie one water type...hard/soft, and ph....it helps them thrive...some like plants some like rocks....all cichlids will try for other fish if given a chance they are mostly (if not all) carnivorous.... and some get real BIG and agressive.... a convict(zebra) cichlid will keep half a tank empty of just him and his mate when he feels like it....

good luck in your endeavours....


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## becky_fraggle (Feb 27, 2008)

Hello just a bit of addy on the malawi's Dont mix ya haplachromis and your mbuna together.If you are keeping them make sure you overstock the tank and beef up the normal filtration to cope with this the idea of this is to control the agresion the same fish doesnt get picked on although it has been known for the tank to turn on single fish .Be careful with your selection too many males and all hell will break loose,there are different species and temperaments some being highly aggressive some being not so.The differnt species need different dietary needs aswell, Ive kept them for years now and im still learning. 
Good luck 
oh and join this forum 
Lake Malawi Cichlids • Index page
and have a lil look at this 
malawi cichlids


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## Robk (Feb 3, 2008)

Saff said:


> i love these but i think they get too big for a comunaty tank are there any smaller spieces??


I used to keep these and they will eat your guppys,neons and other small fish i used to feed mine on white bait and raw beef heart.


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## tokay (Mar 13, 2007)

i used to keep fish quite a few years ago now and i kept kribs in a community tanks with no problems at all...rams seem fine with other fish too , ive also kept firemouth cichlids in a community with no problems aswell


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## daxy1 (Aug 21, 2007)

yellow labs like someone said are good i have loads of young at the mo :whistling2:

also some of the shell dwellers are cool and pretty small and peaceful


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