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I recently upgraded my tank of neolamprologous caudopuntatus from a 20 gallon tank to a 30 long after both of my LFS said that they would not take the fry because they don't think there is a market for small african cichlids in the area. Originally, I had hoped to keep 6 or so of the caudopunks, and get some julies or another similar sized cichlid, but with 20 of the punks and more on the way, I think another cichlid species might be a bad idea.

However, I recently happened upon some tiny little syno. petricolas which aren't supposed to get much bigger than the caudopunks I already have, and I was wondering if a trio of these might be feasible.
I don't necessarily mind if they are likely to eat eggs or fry, and I have 2 filters rated for 30 gallons ont his tank as it is, so I'm not necessarily worried about the bio-load.

What do you guys think? Would it work?

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

I think that would work out great...they may help with some of the fry in the future for you, too.

Eric

I think it would be absolutely fine. The only thing I'd worry about is if your caudopunks use shells and not rocks since petricolas might get stuck into the shells because they're not all that smart..

If you do want to do another cichlid species, cyprichromis species would probably go along fine since they dwell in the upper strata only.

Add some rock layers and go for some Altolamprologus calvus an maybe even some Brichardi. fry taken care of, and calvus especially are very interesting..

A single calvus would work, same with a single brichardi...I'd not do a pair of brichardi or they would take over the entire 30 gallon tank.

Well, I've been looking into petricolas and calvus... I can definitely get a trio of petricolas... and I adore catfish so I think I'm going to.

I'd love to have a sort of "centerpiece fish" calvus, too, but I'm having a much harder time finding them. Also, I'm a little concerned that not only will the calvus take care of any fry... but they may be large enough to want to eat even the juvenile (1-1.5 inch) caudopunks. Would comprisseps be a better choice?

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Comps get to the same size as calvus...however, the "shell" dwelling Altolamprologus (can't recall if it's listed as a comp or calvus) would be safer - they stay much smaller.

Big E is referring to the Altolamprologus compressiceps 'dwarf sumbu' which is just starting to make it's way into the market. I had a colony, they are pretty mellow to other fish compared to normal compressiceps and calvus. They are much more nippy to each other than other fish so they shouldn't bother your caudopunctatus.