Mbuna & bottom dwellers?

I have my mbuna with syno petricola, calico BN plecos and a Tanganyikan eel. There have been no issues. Basically as long as the fish are not "mbuna" shaped my fish don't bother them. Each tank is different though. Why do you now want to buy from local breeders? You are more likely to get better prices and healthier fish.

Though now that I think about it, I use to have a large rhino pleco that my mbuna picked on. I think larger bottom dwellers are at risk of getting shredded. The smaller ones can get away easier.

I had to remove mine. He fought with the mbuna too much and ended up getting himself shredded in the process.

Lillyan said:

Syno multipunctata, lucipinnis & petricola are said to work.

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Yep, those are the best options for a mbuna tank, IMO.

Definitely not pictus, striped Rafael I doubt you will ever see, and it's going to be a similar issue to the plecos since they will seek out the same caves and hiding places. Synos are probably your best bet, but I dont know of any box stores that sell them and they are pretty expensive usually, unless you get very small ones. Bottom dwellers are just not really common in an mbuna tank, the same way a planted mbuna tank is not common. I'm sure it can work but it's not easy, and things change as pairs form and fish mature....so best just to play it safe and leave them out, in my opinion.

I've had wonderful luck ordering online, often times it's not any more expensive either. I bought 10 Espei rasboras from Mgamer, paid about $11 after he refunded the difference in shipping...can't find these fish anywhere around here and all 10 are doing great! I never return fish to stores anyway, they always request a water test and complain my water is too hard, and suggest pH lowering potions. It only took one of their pitches for me to abstain from using the guarantee again, if they are going to blame the death of the new fish on my hard water, which I have no plans to modify...

I'm sure the rainbow shark/mbuna arrangement would work for a while, but as they get older you'll probably need to tear down the tank to remove him. This is what happened with my full grown Chinese algae eater, eventually he had to be removed from my yellow lab tank (and these are mild as far as African cichlids go!) even though he grew up with them. It did take years for them to become intolerant of him, but I felt pretty bad when he got so torn up by their spawning induced territorial behavior.

I agree with Nicole and to add on i wouldn't buy fish from a big box store they do not have the healthiest fish and usually they have the crap that comes out of Florida's drainage ditches not to say that all the fish are like this from them because usually you can find some decent rare fish mislabeled of course, but you would be better off trying to find them local through a breeder, yeah yeah you said a guarantee but if you buy fish from one of these big box places and they keep dying i would think one wouldn't keep buying fish from them, plus they triple times or more so over price their fish.. Now as with most respectable breeders / hobbyist they try to sell their fish at an affordable price so they can move them. Its what i do and i usually throw in some extra fish when someone comes over to buy some but i also expect whoever buys fish from me to do their homework and know how to acclimate and upkeep their fish tanks, thus i do not guarantee my fish unless it was an error on my part..

Try to look through craigslist or a local fish club even if you have a fish club an hour away from your home, always ask questions from a breeder usually within a few minutes you can tell if they know their stuff or full of crap, i met a local man that lives in the city at a pet store as he was trying to sell his juvie Tanganyika's i introduced myself and now we swap fish species or he sells me a fish for 2 dollars each that was 5 yrs ago and i was just recently over at his house picking up some fish.. Aquabid.com usually has some great breeders with some great fish sometimes the deals you can find there is awesome and even with free shipping.. Fish forums like AC have areas for hobbyist to mingle and swap fish..

In closing you control your hobby there are tons of deals out there but you have to look for them if you go by the big online stores and the big box stores you will be disclosed to their high outrageous prices and ridiculous species of fish.. Have fun and enjoy our rare hobby as for me i am a lifer..