Why wouldn't I mix them?

[SWerner13]

I was pondering something today and was wondering what your input is...

Generally as a rule of thumb, people don't mix african and south american cichlids. I just sort of accepted this at first. But then I got to thinking... Why? I thought maybe different water requirements such as hardness and ph but as we have seen now a days what they experience at a fish farm is not only far different from their natural habitats but likely they use the same water to raise both. So is there another reason why they aren't normally mixed? Other than supposed water requirement differences they seem compatible to me... They are all cichlids, semi-aggresive, territorial... It seems with enough space they would go fine with each other?

What do you think?

 

[WhiteDevil]

I had africans, SA's and a texas in the same tank together, they grew rather large together and died of old age.

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

people just like having a cultural tank setup.. main reason people dont mix them. its all personal experience is all.

 

[Jacko]

Well, there's diet. Mbuna can suffer something called Malawi bloat if they eat too much protein and I doubt you're going to find many south american cichlids that are happy to munch on spirulina and lettuce for the rest of their life.
There's also the territorial part to it. African cichlids (mbuna, peacocks etc.) all grow up and their instincts tell them that they have to share the tank and only get small territories as you can see when you keep them in large groups, that is why they mix together so well. American cichlids on the other hand prefer to have large territories, anywhere from half the tank to the full tank depending on which ones and the size of the tanks. This makes them beat on the africans and causes stress to both, which is really unnecessary.

And while the fish farms might keep them all in the same water, I doubt it. Not that you are likely to find out though, trade secrets and all. To get africans to breed and be happy they really need harder water than south americans. It costs like 10 bucks for a bucket of crushed coral, so I'd think that they would spend that little extra money to lessen stress, make breeding and rearing easier (less deaths from stress) and increase their profit more than they lose. Maybe the asian farms do keep them all in the same water, but we've all seen the quality of those fish that come into the stores are compared to good old Floridian farms.

 

[BillD]

The main reason for not mixing them is that they have different habits/behaviours that may conflict. At the very least, they may not act naturally. Behaviour is one of the reasons to keep chiclids, and putting cichlids with teeth (CA/SA) with vegetarians can be fatal for the more porrly armed. So, while it may work in terms of survival of the individuals, it seldom works in terms of observing natural behaviour of the individual species.

 

[SWerner13]

Not that you are likely to find out though, trade secrets and all.

I'll look into this further. I work at a Pet store. The owner of our pet store was able to fund her franchise with money she recieved from owning a fish farm in florida where I live. I'll ask about it the next time her husband is around as now I am curious.

Your points on eating requirements, territorial habbits, and defense/offense abilities make a lot of sense.

It seems that while it can be done, I will continue to advise against. At least now I have more valid reasoning thanks! And I'll post here again after talking to my owner.

 

[Jacko]

And I'll post here again after talking to my owner.

Thanks, that'd be much appreciated! I know a couple people who work in florida farms but none of them would tell me.