Considering Rift Lake cichlids

SarahBravo

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I'm thinking about clearing out one of my tanks (180 litre) and putting the following fish in:

Pair of Moonlight gourami (ok, not cichlids, but like a high pH)
Pair of electric yellows
Male and 2 female blue dolphins

I have to stress that these will be young fish and will be rehomed as necessary when the outgrow the tank.

Would this combo work? Apart from a Cuckoo cat (too much money for me!) would any other loaches/cats be suitable? My water is 8.5 pH and fairly hard!

Thanks for any advice, don't want to mess up!

Sarah
 
don't under any circumanstances put the gouramis in with the others on your list,
they won't last very long with malawis!!

i'm guessing the tank is a rio 180?
the dolphins grow too big for your tank, over 8 inches when adult.
the yellow labs will be a good starter fish, they are relatively peaceful and very colourful.
you need to put more malawis than four in that size of tank, try adding 20 juveniles and thinning the numbers out when they grow.

get a few names of other fish you like the look of and then come back and ask about them.
 
With only Labs and the Dolphins in the tank the Gourami's may very well get ignored, but their stress levels would probably be high anyway, and it is certainly not ideal.

It's true, the dolphins do grow too big eventually, but they aren't terribly fast growers, especially once they reach 6" or so, and they will be safe for quite a while.

You can go with more electic yellows, they do very well in groups. They are also very avid breeders, so although 1:1 ratios work, you'd make it much easier on the female by adding more. Lab. Caeruleus are not pairing fish, they're actually closer to colony breeders.
 
Thanks guys. I talked to Nathan at Trimar for about 40 mins (www.trimar.com) and we came up with 2 yellow labs, 2 nyassae and 3 blue dolphins and one syno something - all small! And having ordered them I just discovered that my lfs has just got into cichlids in a big way, so I may get some more small ones as you advise, grow 'em on and sell some back to them. Have thrown the idea of gouramis out the window, as instructed!!!

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated!

Sarah
 

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