Malawi Golden Cichlid

[BettaBoyz]

alright, here's the thing. my LPS keeps fish, lots. all mixed up. they write names and prices of fish on the tank glass. they have this nice old 5 gallon hex set up. on it, it says 'Tricolor Sharks: 5.99' and 'Cichlids - Non-agressive'. the Cichlid price and the first word (or words) have been erased. now, the tank only contains one species of fish. nice, bullet shaped fish, with beakish mouths. the females (i suppose they're female) are a muddy goldenrod with black and white stripes, the males dark blue/purple or black with white bars. they're all around 2" long.

could these be Malawi Golden Cichlids? if so i'd like to buy a breeding pair, a male and female, from my LPS. at first i thought they were the Sharks, and my dad told me they'd grow- a lot. MGC's grow to be about 3-4", or so says my fishie dictionary. could a pair of MGC's get along fine in the following tank?

SIZE - 10 gallons
LIGHTING - 2 mini-spiral 9 watt bulbs
HEATING - 79*
DECORATIONS - 15 assorted silk plants, 2-3 large peices of fake driftwood
SUBSTRATE - 10 pounds of mixed color hagen gravel
FILTRATION - mini-filter
OTHER INHABITANTS - an apple snail, three cory cats and (if they fit) four breeding guppies (fry will be used as feeder fish, so if they're eaten it doesn't really matter)

thanks for all your input. i'd really like to get these fish, whatever they are, but i need to know WHAT they are before i get them. i'm going to double-check their colors/size/shape and ask the store what they are, but i'm pretty sure they're MGC's.

 

[juanveldez]

my personal preferance is not to keep any cichlid in a 10 gallon tank. espically a breeding pair because of the fact that most malawi cichlids aren't really that good of parents. and while the female is holding the male can and probably will pick on the female so the more room the more she can get away from the male. also to curb agression I would also have at least 3 females to a male.

 

[smb]

are a muddy goldenrod with black and white stripes

Not exactly sure but it sounds like Melanochromis auratus by that description. The males are a lot more dark than females.

No way you can keep these guys in a 10g. They are some VERY mean fish if this is what they are.

You would be better off trying to put some Tanganyika shell dwellers in a 10g. I would recommend at least a 20g even then but others with more experience in Africans than I say a 10g is ok, so thought I'd give you both pov's.

 

[BettaBoyz]

thanks!

could i keep a single MGC in a ten or twenty gallon tank with other fish, or would it be best to stay away from them? at my LPS at least 7 have been crammed into 5 gallons of water, and there's no agression going on between them at all .