Help Id and confirm

[Fishy411]

New Tank I am probly getting it around christmas(SAles) It is a 55 gallon. My proposed fish list

-1 Common plec
-2 yellow labs
2- unidentified
3-Pictus catfish
-(possibly) 2 lelupi



ok the unidentified cichlids are a dark grey with very dark blue stripes. There are about 4 or 5 medium thickness stripes on it. They are like <---> this thick and the fish is like <-----------------> that long maybe a little smaaller. They are african but i am not sure what. Plz help. Also is everything else compatible

 

[G_Sharky]

maybe a pseudotropheus zebra or an Afra, not really sure since there's a lot of african cichlids that has that pattern. Go into googles and type African Cichlids, you'd definetely find it.....

 

[CFC]

Pictus cats and rift valley African Cichlids are not compatable, they come from completely different eco systems and require far different water values.

 

[Fishy411]

what would be a good catfish than?

 

[Fishy411]

what about the lelupi's. Are they Ok?

 

[Sorrell]

Neolamprologus leleupi are Tanganyikan's cichlids and require different parameters then the mbuna's. There are many many species from Lake Malawi to choose from so you might want to choose from them

Here's a site that has good info and pictures of mbuna

 

[Fishy411]

the inidentified is a Maylandia fainzilberi and it is a BBB type. Thx to everyone who helped with that but i still want a really cool catfish.

 

[sylvia]

synodontis angelicus perhaps? I don't know exactly where it's from but it's african I also don't know about compatability with cichlids but you could do a search on it and see It's a stunning species!

 

[modernhamlet]

If you're doing a Rift Lake tank, I would suggest one of the synodontis species endemic to the area. The most commonly available of these are S. multipunctatus, S. nyassae, and S. petricola, all of which stay relatively small (4"-5"). I have three (very small, juvenile) S. petricola in my 75g right now and though they are a bit shy still, they are really really beautiful and fun to watch swimming around their rock caves.

A bristlenose plec would work as well...

 

[Fishy411]

ok those sound good but is ther anything under 10 $? I don't want to get anything real expensive bcuz this is my first real big tank.

 

[Fishy411]

how bout a upside down catfish? Would a red finned shark be ok?

 

[Leslie]

Upside Down catfish would be fine as they are a Syno but keep in mind they like to be in a group. No to the shark I'm afraid.

 

[blue_ram]

ok the unidentified cichlids are a dark grey with very dark blue stripes. There are about 4 or 5 medium thickness stripes on it. They are like <---> this thick and the fish is like <-----------------> that long maybe a little smaaller. They are african but i am not sure what. Plz help. Also is everything else compatible

I'm hoping you aren't thinking of Frontosa (Cyphotilapia Frontosa). Many cichlids fit that description. Many African cichlids grow very large (12"+). Make sure you ID them correctly by getting their scientific name and matching them against the fish database (or a book ). Because often, LFS mislabels them. With a mistaken identity, your community may be reduced to a single large fish.

 

[Fishy411]

no it's not a frontosa. I don't trust my lfs anyways. The tank that it's in is marked african cichlids so i'm just looking around.

 

[Fishy411]

Farlowella's ok?