All I see here is someone saying they added clown loaches to a tank that also housed africans. I see nothing relating to the type of water in the tank.Tommy Gun said:Well, once again, I an NOT the expert on this topic either, but I have some relatively recent experience with this subject. I just stocked my tank with 9 juvenille cichlids of a very aggressive nature, as I have been told a million times. There are 3 P. Kennyi and 6 M. auratus in the tank right now and I was having issues with bullying and just all around mean-ness.
But a couple of days ago I read a story in a magazine about using 'dither' fish or 'target' fish to help calm a cichlid tank down. Basically it amounts to adding other very fast fish (non-cichlid types) that are too big for a cichlid to eat into the tank. This is supposed to help keep the cichlids a little more busy and thus, pay less attention to chasing each other or the females.
So, I tried first with some clown loaches and this worked out great. The tank was almost instantly different as far as the fish's behavior goes. So, I added some of my largest platties to the tank and now it is almost as if they are all sharing the platties demeanor, making the tank nice and quiet.
Back to the point though....Some barbs are also used as dither/target fish. I know for sure tiger barbs are used, so you should be ahead of the game on that one. I wouldnt go as far as to say I think you should mix the fishes like you are asking, but I would think you could as long as the cichlids and barbs share the same needs as far as water types and tank conditions are concerned.
Seems to me you just ASSUMED that african meant high PH with hard water, and posted your response accordingly.
As per my previous post, I have african rift lake, african riverine, south american, gouramis, and tetras all in the same tank. What would you assume the water parameters to be?
Your resonse is what got this discussion started, and you made it without knowing any information other than what was posted.
How can you respond to one post with no info., but not another ?
"Your pH seems OK. I could not tell you anything else because I do not know the size of your tank, the number of fish in it, how much you feed, or frequency of water changes."
Tommy Gun's post did not even include the PH.
I don't think you were/are being childishly attacked. I think you are simply being asked the question of how you could have made such a comment with no more info. than what was given.