Has anyone had success with keeping multiple cichlid pairs of the same or different species together in the same tank?
Has anyone tried to keep multiple cichlid pairs together?
- Thread starter Dustin3006
- Start date
when i used to keep cichlids i had 2 pairs (festar pair & Amph hybrid pair)
successfully a pair on each end. lots of pots, rocks, woods and fake plants
worked for me. a rare squabble here and there but was very uncommon
and never any damage just 1-2 sec lip locks and chasing.
successfully a pair on each end. lots of pots, rocks, woods and fake plants
worked for me. a rare squabble here and there but was very uncommon
and never any damage just 1-2 sec lip locks and chasing.
I have had different cichlid pairs in tanks together, and many have raised broods on opposite ends of the tank. At times the schooling fry even combine. It has only worked well in tanks of at least 6ft in length., and when the cichlids have very differing shapes and coloration. Like the Lepidiolamprologus elongatus, and Nosferatu bartoni below.
Basically what Duane said.
You can get away with more pairs with dwarf cichlids or fish that live in close proximity in the wild (Archocentrus multispinossa). A lot of people have success with groups of Thorichthys, but the tank needs a ton of cover which may detract from the look of the tank if its a display.
In a six foot tank, you are fine with most of the medium sized pairs. There is a delicate balance between the two pairs. One tip is to include a school of medium sized tetras so that the fry get eaten as they venture further away from the parents. If you don't have a way to prevent fry from wandering, the parents try to guard a larger territory which may cause the delicate balance to fail. Several species ofTanganyikan cichlids do well with multiple pairs, they tend to hold tight to their territory. Of course there are exceptions.
I don't keep large fish, so I can't comment on how they do in multiples. I would think poorly, as their territory requirements easily span the whole tank.
You can get away with more pairs with dwarf cichlids or fish that live in close proximity in the wild (Archocentrus multispinossa). A lot of people have success with groups of Thorichthys, but the tank needs a ton of cover which may detract from the look of the tank if its a display.
In a six foot tank, you are fine with most of the medium sized pairs. There is a delicate balance between the two pairs. One tip is to include a school of medium sized tetras so that the fry get eaten as they venture further away from the parents. If you don't have a way to prevent fry from wandering, the parents try to guard a larger territory which may cause the delicate balance to fail. Several species ofTanganyikan cichlids do well with multiple pairs, they tend to hold tight to their territory. Of course there are exceptions.
I don't keep large fish, so I can't comment on how they do in multiples. I would think poorly, as their territory requirements easily span the whole tank.
I have a pair of red terrors, a pair of red tiger cichlids in together at the moment and not long just got rid of my pair of salvini which were all in together with some other large American cichlids. You get your odd day of trouble going on but mostly they all just stay away from each other.
