Cichlid Tank

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Alvarez

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Nov 29, 2005
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Ok I am gonna start up the Cichlid tank. It is the 56 gallon 30 inch tank I have mentioned before...

I have been told to go with Malawian Cichlids and I have a list of some I would like to add, someone tell me if I may run in to some problems

Yellow Lab, Blue Peacock, Parrot Cichlid, Yellow Peacock, and a Peacock OB.

Should these 5 mix well? They are already mixed at the LFS together and are all Malawian Cichlids. However should I go couples? or just these 5?
 
Yellow labs are mbuna and I keep them with my peacocks with no trouble, the parrot cichlid I don't know much about, the names of the other fish aren't terribly helpful, a blue peacock could actually be a few different types of peacocks as that is not a scientific name. The yellow peacock is most likely an Aulonocara baenschi. It will get along with the other fine. The OB is something I am also familiar with, I have a few and they are peaceful and will get along fine with most of the others. Just know that they are an off breed, a mixed strain.

Also just because the lfs has fish housed in the same tank does not mean they are supposed to go there. The fish at the lfs are rarely in the same tank together for any lenght of time. Also not all fish from Lake Malawi can be mixed together, some are far more agressive. I would say that the fish could go together IMO with the exception of I dont know anything about the parrot cichlid.
 
The parrot is listed as being very peaceful and can defend itself in a mixed cichlid tank. I like how they look so I listed it... its not a malawi cichlid but I have seen many people that have mixed them in their profiles on forums.
 
In a tank that size you can mix mbuna and peacocks (Aulonocara), but I would get more than 5 individuals, as they are going to have conflicts over territory. Labs are probably the best choice to mix with peacocks, if you are going to do it.

The peacocks you list are all pretty much the same type of fish, just from different parts of the lake and with different coloration. AFAIK the parrot can handle themselves with Africans but I have never kept one so I can't comment on them.
 
Parrots are a South American Cichlid, not Africans. They can be kept with Africans but they grow very large in size and should be in a tank larger than 56 gal. They grow to approx 8 inches.

The OB Peacocks should be ok until they start to breed. They become very aggressive. More so than any other Hap that I have owned. The other options sound great. Have you thought of Acei's?
 
Parrot are not really anything. they are a cross bread and do not exist in the wild, right? Or I could be totally wrong, lol. I have never had them personally
 
Right, buckshot. They are supposed to be a cross between the midas cichlid and the redhead cichlid, but some say it is severum and red devil. There is disagreement about this. I don't personally like to mix Old World cichlids with New World, but people do it all the time and it is personal preference.
 
Technically they are farm raised hybrids between two South American cichlids. That's why I said they were South American. As TG stated, there is a debate about which two cichlids have been bred to form the Parrot. But regardless, they can be aggressive, but most are very docile. I had two that could handle their own against the Africans. But then I had another one that would hide all the time away from the other fish because it was being picked on constantly.
 
Ok scratch the last list... I was told to just stick with Malawian Cichlids, the peacock gets too big anyways at 8 inches... Also I was told a good rule of thumb was to stay with omnivores around the same size.

If all the fish were say Yellow Labs size 4-6 inches... how many would I be able to keep in my 56 gallon 30 inch long tank without overstocking it?
 
I prefer to overstock my cichlids a bit to cut down on aggression. If they were also similar in nature to the yellows, IMO, I would say about 10-13 without overstocking. But keep in mind that some species are more aggressive than labs, so the stocking quantity plan can change with the actual species you go with.
 
Thanks for the help guys!

What are the compatibility of these fish... They are all Malawi fish, and all omnivores... Are there any red flags amongst these fish besides the normal cichlid aggression? Most sites I see say Malawi cichlids are compatible with Malawi cichlids, however I know that itsn't entirely correct.

Cobalt Blue Zebra
Red Zebra
Acei
Blue Peacock
Yellow Lab
 
You are correct that not all Malawi Cichlids are compatible together. The list that you provided looks good, except for the Red Zebra. They can be terrors in tanks and torment the Labs and Acei's (who by nature are more docile). You may want to consider replacing the Red Zebra with another fish.
 
From experience, you should have multiples of labs and Acei's. The Acei's "school" in a sense. They prefer to be in numbers and like to swim together. The labs also should be in numbers as they do something similar. The Haps I don't have personal experience mixing multiples of the same sex. I only have 1 male and 1 female of each hap so I'm not sure on mixing of Males, but I'm almost sure that it is fine to do. I see it all the time in show tanks, but I've just never had the personal experience of doing it.
 
When stocking the tank... The tank was already cycled with the previous fish and is empty right now except for the rainbow shark which I will move if there are problems, to the other tank.

How many should I add at a time to the tank... I have heard no more than 6 a week but that seems like it would be too many and shock the tank.
 
If you only have the shark in there now, a lot of the bacteria you initially built up may have died or gone dormant. I would add slowly and cautiously.
 
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