Dithers for 60 gal

[Tyler718]

I have a 60 gal with 2 Yellow Labs, 2 Bumble Bees, 2 Blue Mbuna, 3 G.Acei, 1 Blue Botia, and 2 Kenyi. All are about 1 1/2 - 2 inches long. I'm getting another tank in 2 weeks. Even though they are showing no sign of aggression I will be splitting these fish among the 2 tanks. I used this to grow them out some from small juveniles.

I have had these fish for about 3 1/2 months. I have been using danios as dithers, but as soon as I put them in they are gone the next morning. I put 4 danios in this morning and all are gone except 1. Is this the best fish to use as a dither or is there any other that could work better?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mcdaphnia]

With this mix of cichlids you certainly don't need dither fish. Dithers are for shy fish (e. g. apistos) that need the sight of other fish swimming about to feel safe. Target fish are inexpensive fish that deflect aggression from among the cichlids to themselves. The line between target fish and feeder fish is not always there. You probably don't need target fish eaither and feeder fish could result in transmitting a disease or giving the mbuna more protein than they can manage without bloating.

BTW. Only having two or so of many different mbuna is a recipe for crosses. Even when there are a lot of each species, assuring both sexes are present in each species, there is still a good chance that the dominant male whatever species he is, will breed with all the females no matter what species they are.