View Full Version : Thinking of Changing From SA Cichlids to African Cichlids
joestyx
02-12-2009, 3:36 AM
I currently have a planted 55g tank which now only holds a Jack Dempsey, I love my JD since i watched him grow up, but I can't stand the fact that I only can have 1 fish in my tank and I feel it's wasted space just for 1 fish....Now I am willing to get rid of my JD and start a African Cichlid tank and what i wanna know is it worth it??? Are african ciclids exciting to watch? i know i can put quite a bit of them together in the same tank and many different colors and variety to catch the eye....Should i do it??
I came to this decision when my JD ate my SAE and now my plants are getting BBA which had been gone for a while.....
7itanium
02-12-2009, 4:26 AM
African tanks are sweet-- im working on one right now
also.. if you were to get some of the more peaceful mbunas you could most likely keep the JD in there with them and there is a good chance they would do ok
joestyx
02-12-2009, 4:35 AM
"also.. if you were to get some of the more peaceful mbunas you could most likely keep the JD in there with them and there is a good chance they would do ok "
yeah but i am worried that if i did that then the mbunas would just be expensive feeder fish for my JD
7itanium
02-12-2009, 4:41 AM
possible.. but not likely-- mbunas hold their own very well.. even the "non agressive" varieties.. you forget that even though they may be less agressive they are still 6" long and have teeth lol
joestyx
02-12-2009, 4:47 AM
possible.. but not likely-- mbunas hold their own very well.. even the "non agressive" varieties.. you forget that even though they may be less agressive they are still 6" long and have teeth lol
yeah, I know but they don't come that way....and my JD is about 8" long and has a pretty good set of teeth himself.....
I like my JD, but i want a tank where i can just look at it and see lots of fish and amazing colors and a mbuna tank is the direction i might go in, i will find a good home for my JD whether it be a new tank or give him away, plus i don't thing the african cichlids disrupt the tank bottom as much as a JD, i am totally guessing of course
7itanium
02-12-2009, 5:36 AM
Africans do just as much damage to the tank bottom as the JD if not more.. they rearrange rocks and dig up plants.
Not discouraging you hopefully.. because they are really cool fish-- but dont accpect them to be any better at housekeeping
Go with an Mbuna species tank like im working on.. they are truly aweome and very colorful-- since your planning on getting rid of the JD anyway.. might as well go with a colorful african species tank
bushwhacker
02-12-2009, 1:25 PM
make sure you silicone any rock formations together, the africans will dig under them and they can fall over
djmarshak
02-12-2009, 1:43 PM
keeping africans with a jack dempsey is NOT a good idea
excuzzzeme
02-12-2009, 2:00 PM
Water requirements are different when you get into Africans. Not compatible with JD.
jameshilljr
02-12-2009, 2:22 PM
:iagree: I tried to have some cons and FM's with my mbuna, and they didn't work out too well...(the FM's eventually had to go because the were malnourished from lack of protein they require-i tried to feed them more protein-rich products, but this in turn caused some of the AC's to get bloat:swear:)
I would not mix them. Different water chemistry requirement, different diet requirement and most likely different environmental requirement too...
psychogat3
02-12-2009, 9:23 PM
if you wanna go with africans get tangs i had rock dwellers before and they were ok but now i got a tang community and the fish are way more calm and cooler looking. you gotta get some alto comps or alto calvus. and a cylindricus. there are alot of nice tangs out there. you can mix them with peacocks and haps for more color. just keep alot of rock work.