What cichlids to mix together?

[friend of oscar]

My 30 gallon has been empty for awhile except for a pleco and I am thinking on african cichlids. The only problem is that my ph is 7.6 and I believe most africans need higher don't they? I really don't want to add any new gravel or go through different things to raise up my ph so I was just wandering if there are any africans that can live in that kind of ph. I like the looks of electric yellows and would like to have like around 5-6 of them and soemthing else but considering they gte to like 5 inches or better then I figure that I would need to go with something smaller. But ahwell if the african thing doesn't work out then I'll get a pair of convicts.:D

[polosniffer]

Have you thought about jewel cichlids or kribensis? Both are Africans (thought admitedly not what normally comes to mind when you think of Africans) but do fine in neutral water. 30 gallons would certainly be fine for kribs. It might be a little tight for a a pair of jewels but would probably still work. You are correct in assuming that most other Africans (such as the electric yellows that you mentioned) tend to like higher pH.

[JSchmidt]

Most africans would be fine at 7.6, provided the water was stable...

Jim

[valerie]

You could probably do a group of 4-5 yellow labs in a 30g or a group of 5 Ps. saulosi as they are a bit smaller and both are fairly "peaceful". You can start with a group and weed out the aggresive or extra males if need be.

If it were up to me i would get the PS.saulosi as with this species you get different colors, the males are blue with black bars and the females are yellow. I would get 1 male and 4 females. check out http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/p_saulosi.php
for more info.

As for the ph 7.6 isnt' too bad. Mine is 7.8 and my africans are doing fine. But you can add a bag of crushed coral to your filter and that will help things out.

[friend of oscar]

Those saulosi might be a good choice. The only thing, is that it said in the breeding section on that site it said that they like to dig in the sand. I really don't want to change my rock bottom to a sand bottom. I like that the males and females are different colors because I want to some different color fish. Is there anyhting thta would mix well with either the yellows or the saulosi.
I've heard about some shelldwellers that would be good because I could put several more fish in there but I saw that they like sand two and a much higher ph. Is there any of the africans that I could put like 8-10 in there. A guy at the store said that I could put around that many yellows or other similer sized fish but I trust yall more on this. This would be the first time I've ever done an african tank. Always been a south/central american cichlid guy. Thanks for your replies.

[valerie]

I don't think that you should put 8-10 of any african(mbuna) in a 30g, you probably could fit 8-10 but they wouldnt' be happy and it might cause problems down the road.

Shelldwellers would be a good choice but I wouldn't mixthem with mbuna.I had to put in 2 of my l.ocellatus into my 90g african tank and they got picked on quite badly.

If it were my 30g I would do 5 Ps.saulosi(1m/4f) with a bristlenose pleco. It might not sound like a lots of fish but africans aren't like other fish in taht you can stick a bunch in a small tank.They are territorial and can be aggresive. 5 fish with a bunch of rock work(maybe some java fern)would make a nice tank. You don't NEED sand with mbuna, I have gravel in with mine and they are doing fine.

[friend of oscar]

Thanks for the reply. I went last night to look at the african cichlids. The store I went to does not carry saulosi but said they could get them in but they would be a little too expensive for me right now to get around 5. They only had a few shelldwellers and the only electric yellows they had were in their display tank. They really didn't have much to choose from in any of the other africans either and the manager guy said that it would be another few weeks before they would get any in. I'll check a couple other stores but doubt they will have much because the many times I've been before, they have never had many africans. I put my australian rainbows in the 30 gallon right now so that it doesn't look so empty, and because I got a couple curviceps for the other tank. Thanks again for the replys.