Dwarf Cichlid Vs African Cichlid...can They Be Kept Together?

[mrvillicus]

Ive searched everywhere to see if you can keep african cichlid with dwarf cockatoo ciclid. I understand african cichlid can be very territorial and agressive, i currently have in my 4ft 50gal tank 2 dwarf gourami, 6 columbian tetra and 2 dwarf cichlid and I want to add some colorful african cichlid to the stock, would this be a problem?

 

[Malawi MaD]

Which Africans are you thinking??
With most id say Unfortunately yes, African cichlids require different water parameters to your current stock list, they are best kept with their own kind and as you said they are aggressive. They would kill your Apistogramma's in no time as well as your other fish. Any chance of another tank for an african cichlid set-up?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Which African cichlids are you talking about, Rift Valley lake (Malawi; Tanganyika; Victoria etc.) or West Africa? They cannot all be tarred with the same brush eg. A. thomasi (African Butterfly Cichlid) is one of the most placid cichlids known to the hobby.

But mixing cichlids from different continents has its own risks and needs lots of observation for issues, they will have their own set of body language cods that might not translate well between Africa and South America.

 

[mrvillicus]

well id love lake malawi but to be honest as long as theyre colourful im not fussed. As my apistos are south american i assume it would make sense to go with other south americans? as long as the fish are placid and colorful im happy, to be honest i was considering completely changing to cichlids as my current stock isnt very colorfull