Stocking list for africans?

[laxpatrick]

Looking at going to cichlids after all. Currently have danios and tiger barbs, which would presumably NOT get along with african cichlids... Should be able to find a home for those.

So - thinking a mix of singles - johanni, auratus, other suggestions? Those two are my fave, but I'm concerned about the mean streak usually associated with the auratus...

Only other concern is for scavengers. I've got a 3 inch or so spotted pictus and a rafael cat. Ralph the rafael should be fine, I imagine. Any concerns about the pictus? Both spend daylight hours inside caves, so there's good hiding places for them.

Tank is a 55 gal, filter is a Rena XP2 with a partial duty big HOB filter (it's too noisy to run when I have concalls in my home office).

Target # of fish?

Thanks!

 

[missileman]

I have Green Tiger Barbs with my Mbuna cichlids, no problems at all.
I did keep a school of 10 zebra danios with them for a long time, again no problem. I got rid of the danios only to reduce the bio-load on the tank.

 

[laxpatrick]

Interesting... K - maybe I'll let Darwin take a shot at it as I gradually introduce the cichlids. Thanks!!!

 

[laxpatrick]

Guess the other show stopper could be the inclusion of salt and the cats... Thoughts for those species and a minimum of salt required to keep the cichlids happy?

 

[new2betas]

Salt isn't good for catfish - what kind were you planning on having?

 

[Hairy_Harold]

You do not need to add salt for mbuna, if you have a canister filter you can just add crushed coral to one of the baskets and this with tap water is all you need to attain the right water conditions (ie pH, gH and kH). As for the catfish I do not know, if they have long finage they will be fin nipped and generally abused.

A few of my favourite mbuna are Elongatus Neon Spot, Elongatus chewere, Labidochromis Mbamba, Labidochromis Hongi, Melanochromis Baliodigma (cousin of auratus), flavus