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Okay, I'm going to re-stock my cichlid tank. It's a 55g tank, lots of rocks and caves, 8.4 PH, alkaline, nitrates under 30 and nitrite and ammonia zero.

pseudotropheus demasoni
cynotilapia afra blue reef
cynotilapia afra axelrodi
melanochromis cyaneorhadbos Maingano

Compatible? Not? I want cichlids around 4 inches. Lots of blue and black there, huh? What else do you suggest for such a set up?

Thanks!

Last edited by smantzer at 28-Feb-2005 18:48

The Afra's will cross breed, and a 55g is to smal for ANY Melanochromis species

1 afra species, demasoni and a third species should fill ya up, something mid aggression.......

i dont recommend the demasoni with the afras. i think they will be too similar and the demasoni is probably a bit tougher. if you go with everything except the demasoni, i think it will work out good. or...you could put 15 demasoni in there, weed out a few males until you think you only have 3 or so. it would be a spectacular tank. demasoni usually only work out in large groups or single in a mixed malawi community tank with no other fish that resemble him(kenyi, phenochilus, afras, mbamba etc...) this is from my experiences with them. if you try to put three in there (m/2f), the females will be killed in short order. that is just the way this fish is in aquariums. i had one in my 180g with some phenochilus and he would not stop bothering them, so i had to trade him out. but, he worked out in my 55g with a large group of acei, one red zebra and a yellow lab for over a year and a half.
the cyanordabdos should workout since i hear they are way more docile than their johanni counterparts.


Last edited by acei at 01-Mar-2005 17:32

Last edited by acei at 01-Mar-2005 17:33

Eep, just one afra species, then. I didn't know they'd hybridize.

The melanochromis is a surprisingly docile one. He's in an african community right now, and actually seems to get bullied more than he bullies other fish.

I really liked the look of the afras, but demasoni are more common, so I may just have to get some of them and slowly weed them out like was suggested.