any african go with jewels's?? aka yellow labs

[luvchichlids]

was just wandering if any african cichlid can be housed with a pair of jewels??..so far ive tried firemouths and green terrors..took firemouths back to get green terrors and they are gettin beat up to:confused:

[ibr3ak]

Are you talking about jewels or yellow labs? They're 2 different fish.

[jpappy789]

What size tank???

[luvchichlids]

i asked if any africans like yellow labs can be housed with jewels
and also its a 55gal

[tattoobaz]

im confused.
why are you listing firemouths and gt as trials are you after CA/SA or african.
whatever you go for it is best not to mix. if i was you i would try to keep rift lakeand riverine seperate aswell it works better in the long run

[lucy42083]

Nah, you're not really supposed to house African (the yellow labs) and SA/CA (the jewel, gt, firemouth, etc.) cichlids - they have very different water requirements (Africans need very hard water with high pH), different feeding requirements, etc. I'm pretty sure in a 55 the pair of jewels is all you really could have in there (perhaps a pleco that doesn't get too big?) but I have heard that jewels are REALLY aggressive and of course more so if they're a breeding pair. If you wanted to keep more fish than just 2 I think you'd have to get something less aggressive and not too big.

[ibr3ak]

Jewels are an african riverine cichlids not SA/CA's. But as suggested by tattoobaz I'd keep riverine and rift lake in their own separate tanks.

[luvchichlids]

im confused..lol...i was told that jewels were south american..and here they say african..i dont know...all i know is my firemouths were beat up by them and now my 2 gt's got really frayed tails by them..may take the jewels back if thats all i can keep in a 55 is a pair of fish

[Coler]

Jewels are most certainly african riverine species, not SA. People have mixed them (Jewels) with African Rift Lake Cichlids with success but it is not best practice. I wouldn't consider the water parameters a problem, as Jewels will do fine in Ph of above 7 and hard water which is what the Rift Lake fish like.

If I was you, I would try stocking the 55 with a mix of some Rift Lake Mbuna - check www.cichlidforum.com (http://www.cichlidforum.com) for some info and see how they do with the Jewels; make sure you are adding fish of similar size to the Jewels. I am presuming there isnothing else in the tank.

If the Jewels continue to be a problem, I would return them and do a Rift Lake Tank.

I would also check that what you have are in fact Jewels - beating up Green Terrors and Firemouths is pretty hardcore.

[wataugachicken]

jewels are commonly thought of as SA fish because they are not as aggressive as african lake species. however, they tend to be more aggressive than similarly-sized South Americans. in terms of aggression it's:

african lake species
african riverine species
south/central americans

of course a very large CA cichlid would beat up a jewel (midas, red devil, jag, etc,) but anything similarly sized is going to be beaten by the jewels. it's a hard match to make, especially in a smaller-sized tank. i think you should pick one or the other, or get a much larger tank.

[jpappy789]

I agree. Mixing isnt usually the best thing to do. I would stick to riverine or mbuna, one or the other.

[Bnoble]

Jewels are most certainly african riverine species, not SA. People have mixed them (Jewels) with African Rift Lake Cichlids with success but it is not best practice. I wouldn't consider the water parameters a problem, as Jewels will do fine in Ph of above 7 and hard water which is what the Rift Lake fish like.

If I was you, I would try stocking the 55 with a mix of some Rift Lake Mbuna - check www.cichlidforum.com (http://www.cichlidforum.com) for some info and see how they do with the Jewels; make sure you are adding fish of similar size to the Jewels. I am presuming there isnothing else in the tank.

If the Jewels continue to be a problem, I would return them and do a Rift Lake Tank.

I would also check that what you have are in fact Jewels - beating up Green Terrors and Firemouths is pretty hardcore.

very well said COLER