need compatibilty ideas

[mrmike]

going to be getting a new 90gal tank soon, planning on getting some cichlids for it. I would like some colorful ones hopefully and then was hoping to be able to place a smaller schooling fish in with them, i would like a school to run around the tank also. I see some colorful ones but it seems they get large or are very aggressive and most likely wont get along with a smaller schooling fish. What if any ideas does anyone have, or what have some of you tried? Just want color and a school also.... Thanks....

[mrmike]

ok so i was thinking of yellow labs, and possibly some other from the same part of the world. would you be able to put some cardinal tetras in with them? Also are African cichlids harder to keep than American? What are the needs of each or specific things that make them more difficult to keep?

[oscarbartoni]

I do not have African cichlids but they do need hard water with a high pH whereas moat south American fishes need soft water that is slightly acidic. The means that the African cichlids should not be put in with the cardinal tetras because of their different water needs. Plus the African cichlids are likely to eat the smaller fishes. What is the water out of your tap like, make sure to test it after it has been setting out in the air for at least a day. Then we can tell you which kinds of fishes will do better in your water conditions without having to change the pH and other things when you do a water change (unless you enjoy changing the water values )

[mrmike]

ok i'll test my tap water. its well water, so i'm assuming testing asap is ok..... ph most important test??

[AngelMom]

The pH and GH. ;)

[hypersnowman]

I've had frontosas for a few years and they are uber hardy, they grow fast and their hump is very impressive. I also have a Texas and it's the ultimate survival machine. Very territorial but not that aggressive. Currently I the Texas and small Africans are in the same tank.

The pH is really high where I live (up to 7.8 ) and it's hard water. All of them are still doing fine.

The problem that I eventually had to deal was their aggressive nature. The Africans in my tank are much more aggressive and the only way to over come this was by adding enough fish into the tank to keep one single fish from being bullied.

In my opinion your best bet is to stick to ONE big fish and keep all the other tank mates within a half an inch difference in size. This is really crucicial because if one of your fish is more than half an inch bigger, it will get bullied and eventually it will stunt the growth from stress. Obviously to attain this, you need to get a bunch of fish that will eventually (hopefully) grow to the same size.

By keeping one big fish, it won't be able to single out your other fish. The drawback is that you are probably better off getting all the fish at the same time. This means it may end up costing quite a bit, especially when you acquire that big fish. Also you will probably end up with a big colony of one type of fish.

The only other solution to aggression, in case you do want a bunch of big fish is to buy, say, 15 frontosas. Then none of them will get bullied. I know of a guy who has a tank with 25 frontosas and let me tell you, it's very very impressive.

There is practically no way to keep small fish like guppies, tetras, platys with any kind of cichlids. They will get eaten. Trust me on this. I was naive and thought that guppies and frontosas could live happily ever after together.... well within two days, my guppy population of 40 became 5. Tetras did a little better but eventually they all got eaten.

[hypersnowman]

BTW you can't have any plants. All my plants are fake. So be very selective of the fish you choose. It will end up being the ornament since any tall fake plants will end up on it's side.

[mrmike]

Oh my gosh! So no plants with cichlids huh? this will be really hard to decide what to keep now.... I was imagining a few bright fish, a school of fish and quite a few live plants. And cichlids always seem so much more animated than other fish... what to do, what to do.....

[AngelMom]

:eek:

What about the SA cichlids? My angels and discus love all the live plants I have in my tanks .... and a few brightly colored larger fish with a small school of tetras looks really cool. ;)

[oscarbartoni]

I have festivum and Geophagus in my planted tanks without the plants getting eaten, once in a while they might move the plants but I just replant them. Dwarf cichlids will not bother plants either.

[mrmike]

well my ph right out of the tap is 7.4. I do not have a gh test kit yet..... so what would that lean me towards??

[oscarbartoni]

You need to test the water a day after letting it set out to gas out. It is likely to change after being in the air.