Just Got Some Smaller Africans For My 40g

[thrankall]

Hi im new to african cichlids and currently have in my 40g : 1 ice blue zebra, 1 auryus(or something I cant really remeber but the guy at my lfs told me it only grows 4in.), and a pair of blue spotted jewels. Is this ok? And are there any catfish that will eat leftover food at the bottom that i can keep with them?

 

[Xebadir]

That wouldnt happen to be Auratus would it? If so id suggest ditching it ASAP: Auratus are one of the most agressive africans around, and killers of fish for many. If you have a pic that might help us identify it for you.

 

[thrankall]

That wouldnt happen to be Auratus would it? If so id suggest ditching it ASAP: Auratus are one of the most agressive africans around, and killers of fish for many. If you have a pic that might help us identify it for you.

It actually might be. Its yellow with brownish whitish stripes . Is there anything I can replace it with?

 

[denis coghlan]

If the fish you have looks like this the one in the Profile, then I would suggesting replacing it with a great white shark or maybe a sea otter as they will most likely be friendlier to the other occupants in the tank.

Due to the fact that you are sitting on the smaller side of a african cichlid tank (40g), I would suggest going for the smaller of the mbuna cichlids. The Cynotilapia genus seems to be all relatively small and most of them max out at about 3inches in length. I like the look of Cynotilapia afra (Cobue) so maybe a trio (1m 2F) of these guys might work well in your tank. Have a look through the different types available on the cichlid-forum.com profile pages.

Hope this is some help.



EDIT::::::::::::::::::: I just read your first post again. Hold off on my advice for the moment as I didnt take into consideration the "Blue spotted jewels", I dont actually know what these are so I am going to go and look and then edit this post again. Sorry.

 

[Xebadir]

If the fish you have looks like this the one in the Profile, then I would suggesting replacing it with a great white shark or maybe a sea otter as they will most likely be friendlier to the other occupants in the tank.

Thats the best analogy yet. Some advice on the colouration: look at the females on the profile: they can be just as deadly as the male counterpart. Also not that while the males develop they often display body wide black and blue with yellow fin tips. If in doubt: get it out. Definitely the Cyno is a way to go: another alternative if you dont feel thats for you is Pseudo Saulosi in a species form. But look round cichlid forum at the smaller mbuna and see what you can find.

Good Luck.

 

[Cheffi]

Synodontis Petricola are a nice catfish to keep with Africans.

 

[thrankall]

Ok I am taking my female auratus back to the LFS Today Would a sunshine peacock work to replace it with. I also plan to get either a striped rapheal or african featherfin catfish would tha work?

 

[adambrum]

I think you need to do a bit more research on cichlids the ice blue (Metriaclima greshakei) will rip the peacock to pieces and if the juwels are what i think they are not malawi fish so water stats will be out for at least one of them.

 

[Cheffi]

Ok I am taking my female auratus back to the LFS Today Would a sunshine peacock work to replace it with. I also plan to get either a striped rapheal or african featherfin catfish would tha work?

The Striped Raphael can get to around 6.5" requires a ph of approx 6-7.5 and prefers softer water. The featherfin (Eupterus) up to around 6" prefers ph around 5.6-7.5 and should not be kept in tanks under 3'. You might be better to go for a Petricola or Njasse.