Community Cichlid tank??(With picture!) <--- look picture

[GIMojo]

hey guys, been a loooooonngggggg time since i was here. Im the creator of that word association game that was apparently killed and somebody made a rip off of it :P:P

anyways. I now have 14 cichlids in my 80 gal tank. There's also a sunrise molly in there from my previous crap work. I was wondering. cichlids are suppose tob e real aggressive. but my molly and a bunch of tetras are commuting just fine. my tank needs more colours, but right now I cant afford to pretty red cichlids. you think it'll be safe to add more non cichlid fish into the tank with the sucess of the molly?

thanks guys

[talloulou]

It all depends on what kind of cichlids you have. Many of the South American cichlids can live peacefully in communities with other fish. If you have African Cichlids then I wouldn't add anything but African Cichlids. So what do you have?

I have a severum, firemouth, and blood red parrot that live happily with tiger barbs, rainbowfish, and cories.

However in my tank the cichlids were added last and they were small. You are trying to add to a tank where the cichlids have already steaked out territory and are probably already bigger than when you bought them.

[GIMojo]

I dont know really. I got these cichlids off a friend.

I got 5 yellow ones with black strips across it's body, 4 bluish purple ones with some sort of a reflective sparkly thing on its head, and a bunch of dark color ones. ill take pictures

[Joester2k3]

Sounds to me like they are possibly African Cichlids. Do a google search on images of african cichlids and see if the pics match any of yours

[GIMojo]

[talloulou]

It looks like you have a mix of African cichlids to me..... I wouldn't add anything except african cichlids to the tank. I'm surprised you haven't had trouble with the other "community fish" yet. I never had African cichlids so I'll let someone with experience advise you further.

[GIMojo]

would firemouth be ok? i mean my tank is pretty large with a LOT of hiding places. maybe the cichlids dont feel too territorial when ive got enough housing for everyone? I really need more colouyr in the tank. it looks a bit dull

[talloulou]

I'm not sure this is correct but I remember reading something about fish coloration and mixing african and south american cichlids. Something about the colors for dominance and submissive meaning different things to the fish from the different areas so it's not good to mix them. I'm not sure if that's the only reason or if I'm even remembering correctly but not mixing Africans with anything other than Africans seems to be a generally held "golden rule." There are so many colorful african cichlids though so why don't you just get some more of those?

[GIMojo]

they're sooooo expensive lol

i mean the fish my friend gave me... they're about a good 2-3inches. and she told me that if i get fish they HAVE to be the same size as the ones i got now. but buying 2-3inch cichlids is like 15 dollars cnd a fish!!

[GIMojo]

can you name me some colourful inexpensive cichlids? im going to the lfs tomorrow. Id like to have some names please

[Hillbilly Jerry]

The fish you have in your pic, with the yellow belly and horizontal stripes -

Melanochromis auratus

these are known to be one of the most agressive african cichlids you can have. Adult males will generally kill every tankmate you try to introduce, unless careful aquascaping and many females are present. Then he will only attack the females I breed these, and have had a male kill 21 potential mates before I gave up on him. Anyone who is new to African chiclids should look at other fish.

In any case, mixing African rift lake cichlids and American chiclids isn't going to work. Africans need high pH (7.8+) and very hard water to thrive.

[GIMojo]

OHH strange, for me they're really the less aggressive ones. I havnt seen them take nips at each other, my small tetras, my molly, or the other cichlids. The other cichlids have been chasing each other around for a while. These yellow ones are just kinda like "yeahhh man.... lets just mellow in the caves and swim around a bit"

[GIMojo]

perhaps i got all females, and they get along fine. I can only hope lol

[Hillbilly Jerry]

At around 3 inches males will begin to turn color. they get a black belly, and a single white horizontal stripe. If your fish are 4.5" or bigger, then yes you have gotten lucky and have no males.

[GIMojo]

so does anyone know any colourful inexpensive african cichlids?

[Hillbilly Jerry]

Yellow Labs (Labidochromis caeruleus) are a great choice. Bright yellow and very active fish, probably the most inexpensive of the African rift lake chiclids.