Need some help on compatability issue

Tommy Gun

Tommy Gun

Fish Fanatic
Aug 1, 2006
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Wisconsin, USA
Hey everyone,

I am very new to the cichlid world and I am having a ton of fun with my new additions. I have some auratus and kennyi in a 55 gallon tank and they are settling in nice. It has been a week now and I can see slight indications of a heirarchy being developed. I can also tell which kennyi is dominant, i believe, due to its super bright coloration. However, these fish are still too young to sex, so they are all still in their female colorations.

What I am curious about is what types of bottom feeders or algea eaters would be able to survive in the tank with them. I wouldnt say that I am lack on tank maintenance, but I do have some algea growth, especially in the summer months.

In another tank, I have a relatively large Chinese algea eater, which i tested out in this tank with the cichlids. It wasnt even an hour before this CAE was trying to jump out of the tank and basically chewed up pretty good. I also have a bristlenose pleco, but I am thinking that it will be too small for these fish. Does size have anything to do with it? I thought maybe the more agressive CAE could hold its own, but it didnt, so does agression levels matter?

If there is anything I can add to this tank to take care of algea, then what is the best way to introduce it to the tank? (I am wondering if I put the CAE in there using a poor methods or something)

Thanks for any help!
 
Thanks for the tip. I think synodontis gets a little too big for my tank. it is 55 gallon. Please let me know if I am wrong.
 
synodontis multipunctatus are sympatric with Mbuna in Lake Malawi and will do well in your tank. this species is a slow grower and i wouldn't expect a group of 3 to outgrow your 55 gallon tank. note too, that you've got two of the most aggressive cichlids among Mbuna and i'd strongly urge you to maintain them as groups of one male with 4 females or risk losing some of the females due to spawning aggression. lots of rocks and caves.

don't put a CAE in there with them.
 
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Well, last night I added my bristlenose pleco to this tank and it seems to be doing good. We named the pleco 'speedy' because the fish is about the fastest thing I have ever saw. This morning it is hiding somewhere, but I usually did during the day, even in the tank it was in before.

I do like pictus cats and I almost purchased one a while ago, but I was told that it could eat its tankmates. Would this be a problem for my current 'residents'? They are about 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches long right now, but I notice that they are mostly bottom to mid-tank type fish and so I am worried that they will in jeopardy.

What is the advantage to having a pictus or synodontis catfish in the tank? Do they eat algea or will they just eat whatever food hits the bottom? Right now I am trying to figure out exactly how much to feed this tank. So far, I have slowly been 'upping' the amount of food I am giving and nothing seems to hit the bottom.

Again, how would I go about introducing a new fish to this tank? Even with the BN pleco, I noticed a lot of agression when I first put it in the tank, but I am going to ride it out to see if it can meld in there on its own.
 
Mbuna are algae grazers and having pleco's in the tank to remove that algae is, in my opinion, the wrong way to go. scrape it off the front glass but let it grow on the back and sides. your Africans will love you for it.

synodontis or pictus do not graze on algae. they can help to clean up any food fallen to the bottom but you shouldn't have enough food there to feed them in any event. if you do, you're over feeding your cichlids.
 
Thats a good point. So, all in all, I should be ok with just having these 9 fish in there? I just 'rescaped' the tank and took out the big decor. Now its just rocks and fake plants. Will they do ok with algea on these fake plants? I am looking into getting some taller plants to fill the upper portions of the tank. I have the same thing going on in another tank, but the redish leaves are turning green due to algea growth. I think its more of a summer time problem since my house is very 'open' with quite a few windows. It is hard to keep the tanks completely out of sunlight.
 
i like the look of lots of rocks and fake plants. i have silk plants that anyone would be hard pressed to tell from real. for Mbuna grazers to eat algae, it needs to be on a 'hard' surface that will not yield under the pressure of their feeding. they'll not be able to do much work on plant leaves.
 
I took me about an hour, but I finally caught the pleco and got him out of the tank. Thanks for the help, you may have just saved good 'ol speedy's life!
 
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