Hi all, I have recently purchased and cycled a 75 gallon tank, it is set up with a canister filter rated at 370 GPH and I also plan on putting an additional HOB filter rated at 150 GPH for additional filtration. I currently have a small African Bush Fish about ~2”, an African Featherfin catfish (~5.5”) and a Senegal Bichir which is about ~3”. I have lots of caves and hiding spots set up for the bichir, which is the main reason why I am posting this. I dont know if I should get peacock or mbuna cichlids, I would get about 14 peacocks or 18 mbunas, but since mbunas like caves I dont think it would be a good idea to risk them going in and potentially bothering the bichir, I also know Peacocks are more open water swimmers so I am leaning towards Peacocks rn... Has anyone had experience keeping either Mbunas or Peacocks with a small bichir in a similar sized tank? I would obviously look for smaller peacocks to reduce potential aggression while the bichir is small and grows out, but I would like to hear about anyone’s experiences with a similar set up, any recommendations or comments are welcome!
African cichlid stocking for a 75 gallon?
- Thread starter andre99881
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Aquarium not large enough. Tbh with the stock you already have I would suggest a nice colored male African Peacock cichlid of your choice. I personally put a male peacock with my group of Senegal Bichir until the peacock started to get territorial.
One of things you may want to consider when combining species (even those from the same continent), are water parameters and how in the end, they may effect the health of the tank.
Bush fish are generally soft water, low pH (6 - 7.5)water species that come from heavily planted low mineral content slow moving waters.
Rift lake African species come from hard water high pH (8 and above) areas.
If your tank water is one or the other, health for one may suffer, or not as drastic the coloration of the fish kept may not meet expectations.
Feeding strategies may also be affected, Bush fish being lurk predators, may not be able to keep up with the more aggressive feeding strategies of the rift lake species.
Bush fish are generally soft water, low pH (6 - 7.5)water species that come from heavily planted low mineral content slow moving waters.
Rift lake African species come from hard water high pH (8 and above) areas.
If your tank water is one or the other, health for one may suffer, or not as drastic the coloration of the fish kept may not meet expectations.
Feeding strategies may also be affected, Bush fish being lurk predators, may not be able to keep up with the more aggressive feeding strategies of the rift lake species.
I would not mix rifties with those fish personally, but if you really want to I would not do mbunas since those fish are carnivorous and too much protein will cause bloat with mbunas