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what coudl i put in with Brichardi(Princess Cichlid) in a 55 gallon is it compatible iwth a regular malawi set up

Brichardi are from Lake Tanganijka & not from Lake Malawi. You can add some more Tanganikan fish, that are small & not very aggressive.

Brichardi tend to get territorial, especially when breeding.


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calvus or compressicepps mite work

Many Malawi fish will be fine with these Tanganyikan fish, in a 55 gal. But as stated already, these are Tanganyikan cichlids. If you want to stay true to Tanganyikans, fish that will work would be; calvus, A. compressiceps, most shell dwellers, C. furcifers, C. leptosoma (actually almost all Cyprochromis), and there are others. And yes, most of these fish listed are on the expensive side, but with proper care, they are long lived and beautiful fish.

Just be sure to landscape the tank for the multiple types of fish you keep. In other words, have an open area for the fish that are mouth brooders, to spawn in. And have cave set ups for the fish that brood in caves. If you keep more than one kind of cave spawner, be sure to have several cave choices on each end of the tank, so that the different species of fish can each have their own spawning territories.

HTH...

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There is always a bigger fish...

i always thought they are tang. lakes. i have some with my frontosa. can the different lakes be kept together, and just equal the ph.

i dont really think u should mix malawi an tanganyika cichlids malwi are just so much more agressive and i think u might get a few problems down the road i put a 4 inch frontosa in my 55gallon to babysit for my friend while he was on vacation i have yellow labs and cobalt blues and they completely shredded the fish in less than 3 days so this is just IME but other people may have better luck

Last edited by LOACHESRCOOL at 14-Jul-2005 17:42

loachesrool, posts are hard to read when they don't have any sentence structure.

The only luck I have had with tangs with malawi is my daffodil. He is alone( I know in the wild they colonize) and won't be able to pair up. In the end I just traded in the rest of my tangs and for that matter the victoria basin cichlids that I kept with my malawi fish. They just never work for me. The petricola's I have from lake tang work great though.

Last edited by openwater at 14-Jul-2005 22:27

malwi are just so much more agressive

You need to be more specific and less generalized. As I don't think there is any Malawian fish that can come close to compare to the aggressiveness of the Tanganyikan fish of Tropheus, Oreochromis, or Petrichromis. And pound for pound, the shellies are the worst. IMO, the Tanganyikans are far more agressive than the Malawians, if it is generalized. IMO, the SA cichlids are by far the most agressive. However, this is where the Rams, and the Apistos come from. And we all know how gentle and non-agressive these guys are, compared to most all other cichlids. Generalizations never work.

As for the water parameters, they are closely scaled. Their scales actually cross, With Lake Tanganyika at 8.6-9.2ph, and Lake Malawi at 8.4-8.8, and Victoria is 8.0-8.8ph. So you have plenty of room to match the ph of any and all these lakes. 8.6-8.8 would be good for all three lakes.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Just my thoughts...

The lakes can be kept together as mentioned, they are very similar..

The only thing thats ever stopped me is the difference in the fish.
Brichardi are a substarte spawner and require a (set) territory to defend and breed within. When kept with say Mbuna, which are very active and mainly free roaming fish the Brichardi can't really thrive.

The lakes may be close but the fish are truely a different story.

I say stay Tanganyika, even in your 55. Given the territorial needs of many Tangs you may only get 3 pairs able to co-inside relatively peacefully together. Which largely depends on those 3 species.




Last edited by mr_cichlid at 26-Jul-2005 14:10

I agree with Acid and MR. Stick with the Tangs. Some Tangs are unreal when it comes to agression(Tropheus as stated before are brutal). Comps and Leptosoma would work great. You would have all levels covered with that setup. Maybe throw a single Lelupi(spelling?) in the mix for more color.Dont forget about a Synodontis. Maybe 1 dwarf Petricola.