Species Compatible With African Cichlids

[wilson_004]

I was wondering what are some interesting species compatible of living with african cichlids. I want something for the bottom of my tank that will also eat any uneaten food and i was wondering about a crayfish. I read somewhere that they are compatible with africans and eat almost anything on the bottom and are also very interesing. Also maybe a pleco might be nice but that wont get to big for a 55gal.

Any replies appreciated.

 

[Mosaic]

Hmm. I have a big rhino pleco that I'd be confident could handle Africans, but he is essentially the only thing in my 55. If there were other big messy fish in there with him, then I'd probably consider him "too big" for the tank. I think maybe a Synodontis would be ok, depending on the type of community you're going for.

There's some recommendations here.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

depends on what type of africans, but i definetely recommend a synodontis eupterus species of catfish.

also, any types of botias (clown loaches, yo yo loaches, zebra loaches, etc) can usually go with them as well. I keep peacocks and haps with clown loaches, for example

armored plecos work well too

 

[toddnbecka]

A BN pleco is great for algae control, some Synodontis catfish are also suitable, depending on the species. S. petricola if you want a group of smaller Syno's, S. multipunctatus are also good, but frow a little larger, and are less active/visible in general. For a single larger fish, S. eupterus, angelicus, nigromaculatus, and a few others will adapt well enough to hard, alkaline water. The red-tail botia is a better choice than clown loaches, because they don't grow as large. They're also a rather aggressive, territorial species, quite tough enough for African cichlids.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Plecos are sometimes hit or miss with Africans, so I've heard. I thought about putting a BN in with mine, but I've read many horror stories where the Africans picked out the BNs eyes and some killed them. It probably depends on what type of Africans you have, but I didn't want to chance it.

Synos will work, but in a 55g, you are pretty limited on types of Synos because some get pretty large. If you can find them, Synodontis petricola stay pretty small. You could have a nice little group of them.