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I have a 46g tank with 5x African Zebra Chichlids and a Rubberlipped Pleco. Are there any schooling bottom feeders that I could add?

Inky

At that size of a tank I would doubt it. Zebra Cichlids can get to be 6 or so inches and when mating are very aggressive/territorial. The rubber lipped pleco would get to only be 6+ inches from what I read but there are oddballs that get larger I am sure. To keep with African cichlids the best bottom feeders, depending on your needs would be larger loaches or jumbo cory. But your water settings would dictate what you could put in. But I know that people keep larger clown loaches with larger cichlids and if I were a cichlid I would steer clear of a 3-4+ inch cory cat. Other then that I don't know what else schools at the bottom of the tank. As always your major problem will be aggressiveness of your tank. For now the main thing your going to hear said about this post IME is you need more information on your tank and water before your going to get the best answers possible.

If my calculations are right, you would have ten extra gallons and I have kept peppered cory with zebra's they would kill anything smaller than an inch and a half or so and anything over would get harassed when it came close to its "area" but all and all they were fine but I am by far no expert on the zebra cichlid.

I guess I should just leave them be then. Thanks for the info!

Inky

Would fast loaches like yoyos work? The only cichlids I've kept were more peaceful SA cichlids and I had a johanni once. The johanni was quite agressive and the only thing I could keep him with were yoyo loaches. They were too fast and hyper for him to attack. By the time he turned around to go after them they were on the otherside of the tank. I finally found a different home for the johanni because he kept destroying things and the only heaters I could use were stealth heaters. Plus not being able to add any of the fish I wanted to the tank without him killing them off. Except the yoyos and I've never seen a fish manage to attack a yoyo loach. The only one that's even tried is the johanni.

Would loaches help with waste/alge in the tank?

Inky

Don't know about 'schooling' but there are Rift Lake Synodontis that live alongside your Mbunas in the wild that might be a reasonable choice ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Not algae your rubber nose pleco should do that for you, but I dont know if the yoyo's eat waste food, I know that they will eat snails and other live foods, they also eat flake so they may be ok with cleaning some waste food. If your zebras descide to mate you will end up with a lot of aggression towards anything in there domocile you may want to make sure that you little hiding places for whatever bottom feeder you do get so that they can get in but the big guys can not. Some of the larger cory would clean the bottom for you and are spiny so it would discourage them getting picked on but if one of the zebras decides its lunch you would end up with two dead fish most likley.

Besides space and aggression issues, keep in mind that cichlids such as these prefer a very different type of water than many of the other fish discussed here- hard and alkaline with a fair amount of salts in the water. Corydoras, plecos, and loaches enjoy a softer and more acidic environment. Honestly, I wouldn't add any catfish besides maybe some smaller Synodontis which are inclined towards hard water. It would certainly be doable if there was heavy rockscaping in the tank which allowed for getaways in case the cichlids get nasty.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Further checking : Synodontis nyassae hails from the same waters as your Mbunas.

Here's the Planet Catfish page on the species:

Synodontis nyassae

As it lives alongside Mbuna in the wild, it's probably your most compatible catfish choice.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Nice fish, it's also a good size for that tank. It should help with clean up so I think you will be good with it also. Wonder what there avalibility is though.

I always thought they needed more room? I thought thier min. tank size was a 75g?

Inky