can a 7" common pleco live with african cichlids?

what kind of cichlids did your brother have I have had my with a RD a dempsey and a oscar and he didn't get beat up but I think he will be fine with africans

It will realyl depend on your own fish. You can't say forsure if he will be beat up or not before hand. Getting less aggresive species will help and providing lots of hiding spots will help. But sometimes fish just pick on plecos no matter what you try and nothing can really be done but get rid of the pleco or the fish.

Try having lots of caves and places where the line of sight is broken up. this should help. I hope it works out

I concur with the many cave suggestion. Most of the problems I have seen have been fights over caves. If there is more than enough, most fish will move on instead of trying to evict the pleco, which usually would rather stay hidden during the day. Also, if you make some flat caves, the pleco can fit in and most of the cichlids would have trouble when they get large enough to challenge the pleco.

Unless you like only two fish per tank, I would stay with the africans. It is rare that a big pleco would come out the loser unless breeding is involved and even then not necessarily. When they start swinging those pectoral spines, most fish give them some space.

Yellow labs (Labidochromis caeruleus) and saulosis (Pseudotropheus saulosi) are good starter cichlids from Lake Malawi. The labs are bright yellow (obviously) and the saulosi are blue with vertical dark bars. They look good together. I have a tank with yellow labs and Ps. demasoni (which look somewhat like saulosi), and people frequently ask if they are saltwater fish because the colors are so bright.

Yellow labs and saulosi are mbuna, and as such are not hard to feed. The do well on algae wafers or fresh veggies like zuchinni.

Both species will do fine with a pleco, and they should all coexist nicely. In a 55, you could have your pleco and a quartet each of the labs and saulosi. (Ideally, one male and several females is what you want.) If you make sure water conditions are excellent, there's a good chance you'll have babies.

Have fun and feel free to ask if you have other questions.

Jim

Yes yellow labs and Ps.saulosi are good choices. Saulosi are actaully Blue with black bars(males) and yellow/orange(females).

SOme more less aggresvie Mbuna are Rusties(iodotropheus sprengerae) and Ps."acei".

some of the other species of Labidochromis are also less aggresive. I have Lab.perlmutt and they never cause any problems.