I have a 150 gallon tank with mainly mbuna and haps, was wondering if there are any outside of the box fish ideas that I could put in there? I also have 2 convicts and 3 synodontis and a striped Raphael catfish
cool ideas for an African cichlid tank.
- Thread starter justintheodd
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I would be inclined to advise you rehome the convicts and Raphael. Why not choose the oddball you want and craft a tank around it without the Africans?
I agree to remove the convicts. A cool oddball that would work is spiny eels from Lake Tanganyika 
And the Raphael and all the Lake Malawi fish. An eel is a predator, just because it is from Lake Tanganyika does not mean it will live in a tank with prey fish without incident.
My bad mate, I did say the eel “would work”, but truth be told it was ignorant advice as I have never kept them and really don’t know their behavior.
I did keep 10-14” Malawi predator haps w 3-4” African cichlids in a well fed tank. There was aggression but not “snacks”.
I was just tryna think what would be a cool oddball from one of the African lakes since he predominantly African cichlids.
Sorry folks
hey guys. thanks for all the feedback. I wanted to explain myself with the SA fish. I have the ph at the middle ground and the convicts and mbuna's balance each other out well. they are all healthy and active. I have had them for over a year without issue. and the Raphael just sits in a log, as Raphael's do. I might try the jewel cichlids as I do think they are beautiful.
With the jewels, I would do only one. Not saying it is an especially good fit, but if you do a pair when they spawn they will try/succeed to kill everything in the tank or at least keep all the fish on one side of the tank while the fry are in the tank.
Fish can survive (eat/swim actively/spawn) in water parameters that are not suited to them, but they will not thrive. The new world cichlids may not show the impact until middle to old age.
Fish can survive (eat/swim actively/spawn) in water parameters that are not suited to them, but they will not thrive. The new world cichlids may not show the impact until middle to old age.