Fish Together

[jpjagged]

New to the whole forum world... so bear with me

I have a 40 gal tank set up nicely with about 4 pieces of driftwood, one of which is huge, and three decor rocks (not sure what kind they are) and 2 plants and some java moss spread out in 4 bundles, the tank is mature and the fish seem to be thriving.

My concern is that i have 4 cichlids in the tank along with a clownknife, 2 gouramis, and a discus... is this going to be a problem??
this is a question mainly for the health of the discus since that was a new addition about 2 weeks ago. the gouramis have been in the tank the longest.
leave me tips etc...

 

[Faythee]

What kind of Cichlids ?

The Clown Knife is going to get HUGE and way too big for the tank.

I do not know much about Discus but somebody else will come along. Don't usually see them mixed with those fish though.

 

[jpjagged]

2 of the cichlids are random african cichlids and im not sure what the other two are... i will get a few pics...

but yea i was afraid to put the discus in the tank at first but after thinking about it i did it anyways since the discus is bigger than the others in the tank, i was going on a whim of it not getting messed with too bad

below is a pic of my tank, any advice is welcome, and very interested in getting live plants to grow better

 

[dthoffsett]

Can't really tell much from the picture, but I'm guessing the blurry fish on the left might be labidochromis caeruleus. Does it look anything like this?

Unfortunately, your fish mix is going to cause problems, the mixed africans are most like mbuna (rock-dwelling cichlids of Lake Malawi) and they are aggressive, especially when sexually mature. Chances are very good every other fish in your tank will be bullied/killed. And things can happen overnight, you could have a perfectly peaceful tank for months, then wake up one morning to a massacre. My best suggestion would be to decided what kind of fish you want to keep (Afrcian cichlids, South/Central American cichlids, community fish, oddball, etc) and then stock appropriatly.

If you want to keep African Cichlid from Lake Malawi (haps, mbuna & peacocks) you'll need a minimum 4-ft tank (preferably a 55gal).

 

[jpjagged]

these are the cichlids in my tank that are the african ones... they do look a lot like the ones you showed but different in color

thanks for the info!

 

[dthoffsett]

They're both young and look pretty stressed, I'm thinking the one on the right is pseudotropheus crabro, and the left one is pseudotropheus acei.
[URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=845"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=845[/URL]
[URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1460"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1460[/URL]

Both of them reach 7"+ and ideally should be in at least a 75gal. P.acei are pretty peaceful, but p.crabro can be pretty aggressive though I have a single female in my 75 and haven't had any problems with her, she doesn't start any fight by nobody messes with her.

 

[CFC]

That tank is a real mess of species that should never be mixed.

As said the African Cichlids are very aggressive when compared to other fish and should only be kept with other equally matched African Cichlids from the same lake, yours are lake Malawi Cichlids. Not only are these fish incompatable with other tropical species but they require completely different water conditions to them, the rift valley lakes have very hard alkeline water which the Cichlids need to thrive. Adding wood to water releases organic humic acids which dissolve carbonate hardness in the water making is softer and more acidic, the Cichlids wont handle these changes well and over time will become sick and possibly die.

Discus are delicate species which require soft acidic water and a temperature of 80f to thrive, they are also shy and easily stressed by faster moving tankmates and will come down with stress related diseases at the drop of a hat when unhappy. They should only be kept with other discus in groups of 5 or more and with small peacefull fish such as tetras and Corydoras species that are able to handle the higher temperatures that discus need.

The clown knife is a predatory fish that can reach at least 24" in length in captivity and will eat other fish up to a quarter its own size, they become increasingly aggressive with age and will bite the fins of other fish when conditions are cramped, a minimum tank size for one of these fish would be something in the region of 72x30x24 inches in dimensions.

I dont know why someone would sell you such a mixture of fish for one tank but i would suggest finding a new outlet for future fish purchases.

 

[jpjagged]

They're both young and look pretty stressed, I'm thinking the one on the right is pseudotropheus crabro, and the left one is pseudotropheus acei.
<a href="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=845" target="_blank">http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=845</a>
<a href="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1460" target="_blank">http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1460</a>

Both of them reach 7"+ and ideally should be in at least a 75gal. P.acei are pretty peaceful, but p.crabro can be pretty aggressive though I have a single female in my 75 and haven't had any problems with her, she doesn't start any fight by nobody messes with her.

the picture is kinda blurry but these two are very rich in color and seem happy?

i think you are right about the yellow fish, but the black one is a little different than the pictures show, its all black with a mild blue over his body and his fins are white... will that change with age or is it a different species

And CFC, i know this tank is a mess, fish that shouldn't be mixed and what not... my questioning about having these fish is closer to the parameters of, since they are most likely captive bred and probably very adaptable to different water conditions and have all lived together since the small size of 1.5" do you think they may have a decent chance of surviving? "happy median"?? the discus was added around 2 weeks ago someone gave it to me and decided to put it in here temporarily till i can get an all discus tank set up.

 

[dthoffsett]

From your description and what I can see in the picture, the black one is just a different color morph of the p.acei, I believe it's pseudotropheus acei (Tanzania Black).

As for your stocking, if the discus is only in there temporarily (as in a month or less) they "might" be ok, however, as I said in an earlier post mbuna can become extremely aggressive over night, even if they have been "peaceful" for months. Keeping them with non-African cichlids is not recommended for those reasons, and are putting your other fish at risk. I don't mean to sound harsh (the written word just doesn't express emotion well), just letting you know a likely outcome.

As for PH/temp etc, while they are tank bred, mbuna thrive in a high PH and temp in the 76-78F range, they can survive outside of their ideal conditions, but that's not really fair to them. From what I understand, even tank bred discus are very picky about their conditions, and have a lot of problems with disease if not maintained correctly.

My advice would be to rehome the mbuna, get your discus tank set up asap, and set up a nice little community with the other fish in this tank.