African cichlid

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Hi wanting to start a cichlid tank and I'm so confused with conflicting info is it OK to keep a mix of Haplochromines, tang, mbuna, vice?? 

To be honest I'm even confused about the different types. Are they all from Lake Malawi? Also I read that it's better to heavily stock a cichlid tank to prevent a particular fish getting bullied non-stop. I have a 240l tank any suggestions on types of cichlids and how many of each? Female/males mixes vs single sex? I do really like the brightly coloured cichlids. Also any suggestions on substrate tank layout would be greatly appreciated

[camtang]

After playing around with a few different combos, it is defiantly possible to mix them, but in my opinion I think it is best not to do so. 

Tangs are not from Lake Malawi, they are from Lake Tanganyika. 

Depending on your foot print on your 240, you could do a male peacock show tank, a dwarf tang tank, or maybe a small mixed mbuna tank- yellows, rusty, snow white etc. But in all honesty, your 240 is on the smaller size for Africans- not impossible, but does throw up a bit more issues.

[bigfishhead]

+1 to what camtang said above.

You like brightly coloured cichlids and your tank size is limited for 240L. And base on what stock we have in NZ, haps and tangs are generally too large for your tank size. Dwarf Tangs or shelly dwarf dont have that brightly colour compares to mbuna and peacock. Tropheus setup is nice but in NZ it is pretty hard to get decent stock supply and these fish needs extra care than mbuna and peacocks.

I would say mixed mbuna or all male peacocks would suit you the best right now.

As for the substrate, try to use bright white fine substrate if possible. Cichlids likes digging. I would suggest fine white coral sand. It lights up cichlids' colour the best.

Edited July 20, 2016 by bigfishhead

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I've decided to go with mixed mbuna going to start with yellow labs and was hoping for Pseudotropheus Acei but wasn't really able to find any for sale. Will demasoni go well with these? I'm sure I'll get a bigger tank in the near future but will need to buy a bigger house first  my lfs has kenyi but I've heard these are really  aggressive even for an mbuna. 

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BTW forgot to say thanks for the advice super helpful to a newbie. I got my yellow labs JBL Novorift Rift sticks for algae eaters and my fish won't touch it. I'm reluctant to give them other foods after reading about Malawi bloat. But I've tried a few different things and all they'll eat is bloodworms which isn't ideal if the Malawi bloat thing is a true issue. How do I get them to eat the right foods?

[bigfishhead]

No worries. Some products enhance your fish color very well and sometimes the color looks almost unreal. But everything comes with cost once you stop using them your fish loss color in a week. 

New life spectrum cichlid formula is the way to go. NLS does not like some other product that contains color enhancement ingredients that gona shorten your fish life into half. I feed my cichlids only on NLS 1mm formula. It make my cichlid health and happy. And of course showing REALLY nice color. 

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Hi just further on the food topic. I'm sold on the NLS food but see they have an algae max pellet would this be best for mbuna as opposed to general cichlid pellets? Mine really aren't that keen on the JBL Novorift sticks think maybe they're too large for them at the moment.

[zombieworm]

Hiya. Only just found this post, so don't know how helpful this info is going to be. I have a mix of Tropheus and Mbuna types, along with some Julidichromis, and they do very well together - despite the "total apocalypse" level of warning from some. I have a group of 10 Tropheus - 2 each of 5 different types. Tropheus do need to be kept in a reasonable size group to spread the aggression, but I have found the "they all have to be the same kind" thing a bit of a myth. They are quite happy to aggress on anything Tropheus shaped, regardless of colour, and mine are all very happy and healthy. Along with the tropheus I have Masked Julies - my all time favorite of the rift cichlids and another Tanganyika fish, like the Tropheus. All the rest I have are Malawi, - 4 electric blue Johanni, 2 other blue one (forgot what they are called), 2 Kadango, 2 Red Shoulder, and 2 Chilumba. Also 3 Cuckoos. Again, the Malawi types should be kept in a group to spread the aggression, but, again, I have found it doesn't really matter if they are the same type or not. All of mine are chosen for the fact that none are over 6" as adults, simple because I don't want any really big fish.

The one that isn't a myth is the damasoni. They do need to be kept in largish groups of the same kind - minimum 16. In the early days, I made the mistake of buying only 4. The dominant one bullied the other 3 to death, then died of loneliness. 

I feed mine a mix of the NovoRift (only some will eat it, mostly the Julies and Cuckoos, and it does make a mess in the substrate) and NovoMalawi. The NovoMalawi is fantastic, and there is always a feeding frenzy over that. Once the NovoRift is finished, I'll be moving to Repashy Super Green instead. I have found the various Repashy foods to be great, all the fish and the turtles I have feed the various (appropriate) types love it and do really well on it - and it doesn't make a mess in the aquarium.

Hope some of that was helpful for you.