Tank Mates For Nyasse Blue Cichilds

[Jibber_Angel]

Hello,

I am currently housing 2x male Alundcara nyasse blue cichilds in my tank. I am looking for some tank mates for them that don't grow to big, or that won't corner them and attack. As they seem very laid back and chilled out in the tank.

The tank size is 3ft by 2ft and around 100 litres, i don't plan to house them in this tank as a permanent home, I have this tank size for them for now to see how i go with keeping Cichilds. I am looking to buy a 300 Litre tank in 6 months time if all goes well with me keeping the cichilds. I am aware that if they do get to big for the tank then i will have to buy the tank earlier which is not a problem.

I went out today with the recommendation of my LFS that i use alot and brought 2x Venustus cichilds. I am going to be going straight back to the centre that i brought these from and returning them as i've just relised that they are far from suitable for me or the tank!!!!!!! . I am very aware that i have made a mistake but i am going to correct this in the morning.

Any help or advice on what to keep would be very good please.

*Incase anyone wonders why i haven't brought the bigger tank yet the reason is i don't want to waste alot of money on a bigger tank that i might not use if it doesn't work out with me keeping the cichilds. So i have used my spare tank to see how things go*

Jemma

 

[dthoffsett]

I'm guessing that you have Aulonocara sp. Nyasse, if so you have one of the peacock species from Lake Malawi. Suitable tankmates would be other peacocks (article on mixing peacocks) or you could add some Labidochromis caeruleus if you like. If you choose to add more peacocks you'll need to decide if you want an all male tank or males and females. If you decide to add females be sure to have at least 1m/2f of each species; if you want all males it would be best to only keep 1 of each species to avoid fights. I suggest upgrading to at least a 4ft tank before adding any tankmates though as even "peaceful" cichlids can get aggressive when kept in smaller tanks.

And you are right the N.venustus aren't suitable, in the future I highly recommend researching cichlids (or any other fish) before you purchase them to save yourself the hassle of having to catch and return them.