Bottom Dweller/African Cichlids

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CanadianCoaster

Registered Member
Apr 15, 2010
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I'm looking to add a bottom dweller to my 75 gal African Cichlid tank. I want something really eye catching whether it be a pleco or crayfish or ??? I'm not all that familiar with bottom dwellers so I don't really have any idea of what's out there for BD's. My aquarium substrate is white so I'd like something that's bright red or blue or even black and white striped or spotted. Any ideas? Oh and they'd have to like a slightly high pH. My cichlids are comfortable around 7.9-8.1 I appricate any suggestions. Thanks!
 

blue2fyre

Blue Fish
Oct 7, 2008
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Ashley
What type of African cichlids? Usually that refers to to mbuna which are pretty aggressive.

Well you're going to be pretty limited. A crayfish would survive until it's first molt then the cichlids would get it. Many people have luck with bristle nose plecos but sometimes that doesn't work out.
The best option for you is some syno cats from the other rift lakes. I have a group of Synodontis lucipinnis in with my mbuna and they do fantastic. They also love the high Ph. Synodontis petricola and Synodontis multipunctatus are also good choices. True Synodontis petricola are hard to find usually they are actually Synodontis lucipinnis which are a little smaller than the petricola.
 

CanadianCoaster

Registered Member
Apr 15, 2010
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Thanks blue2frye for the suggestions.

Has anyone ever heard of anyone successfully keeping a zebra pleco (L046) with african cichlids? I came across this beautiful fish and before I fork over the cash for one, I'd like to know if I'd just be feeding my cic's a very expensive snack or not.

In my tank I have 1 each of:
rusty
yellow lab
electric blue johanni
albino socolofi
red zebra
taiwan reef
frontosa
ob peacock
marble peacock
cobalt blue hap
cherry red hap
yellow tailed acei

Most are just juvies. The OB peacock and the Cobalt are about 3.5" and they are the biggest in the tank so far. The red zebra is the most aggressive though and he's about 2.5". This is my first cichlid tank so I wanted to go with a variety of fish but there are a few in my tank that I'm thinking about switching out for more attractive fish. And since this is my fist tank I didn't want any of them to breed so I didn't want to get any more than one of each.Everyone is getting along fine so far but I've seen a lot of people have 2 separate tanks: 1 for mbunas and 1 for haps. Now I know that I have a few Haps but I'm not sure if any of mine are Mbunas. I'm going to go research that as soon as I'm done this and I'm also going to post this thread in the proper channel since I've gotten a little side tracked from plecos here. But anyway I'm rambling. Thanks for your help!
 

blue2fyre

Blue Fish
Oct 7, 2008
4,440
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Wisconsin
Real Name
Ashley
Eh I would not risk it. Not for a fish THAT expensive. I've seen mbuna rip out the eyes of common plecos. I wouldn't dare try a more delicate species.

Also these fish you have are mbuna:
rusty
yellow lab
electric blue johanni
albino socolofi
red zebra
yellow tailed acei

Your fish are still small. You may have a lot of aggression problems later on. Just so you know.
 
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