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how about a few synodontis catfish, i had 3 in mine and they are great. they tend to hide alot but that just makes it exciting when they do come out to visit.

chris

i actualy have a synodotis epurous full sized in my tank of radom fish but he is way to big to go with my tiny ciclids

Hello! Make sure that if you do get any upside down catfish, you do NOT get a "lace cat" or "Synodontus eupterus" as these are also commonly known as upside down cats and grow to be 6" or more in length. We have a lace cat in both our 125 and our 90 (about 7" long)and they prefer to be the only kitty cat in the tank!

I love our lace cats though and would definately suggest them for aquarium enthusiasts with tanks over 55 gallons, as these guys like to have room to mosy around!

Ohhh and as for plants, Cichlids could care less if you have ANY plants in their tank, they love caves, and hide aways made from lava rock or other types of cavy rock you can find at any pet store (that sells fish) I would suggest you take a number of these rocks and make a large pile in the center of your tank, It makes both an interesting eye catcher, and your cichlids will be happy as clams! (not to mention that other fish find these rocks to be lovely little hideaways!

Once again, Good luck & Happy Fishkeeping!

Hey!
I am a cichlid enthusiast and have a BN in my 125 with all sorts of cichlids! Hes been around for almost 2 years now, and is a pretty good size. We gave him a big shell to hide in when he doesn't want to be seen. There would be nothing wrong with adding a BN if you dont already have a plec. As for more fish, be careful adding tropicals to a cichlid tank, some cant handle the agressiveness of cichlids, although I would also honor the suggestion of Tiger Barbs as I have had a pack of tiger barbs for over 3 years, and they have gotton along fine with many tankmates including both tropicals and cichlids!

Almost forgot, is the tank tall or long? This will make a huge difference in what kind of fish to add as cichlids can be very territorial, and need some space for themselves.

Good luck!



Last edited by pezgurl at 08-Aug-2005 18:51

just got the cats tonight off to the big aquarium in the city to see what they say

Congo Tetras would be killed, but they also prefer a lower pH. They ARE an african fish, but there is soft acidic water in some parts of africa and that happens to be where to congo tetras are.

Why not a BN if the pH is high? As long as the pH isn't something above 8 the BN should be fine in a tank like this, or so I have heard.

Id get 3 upside down catfish for the tank aswell. And yes the congo tetras are a good bit slow, they would be killed pretty quick. Id just put in the eel and the catfish.

i did some more reaserch and found i could add
dinosaur eel
butterfly fish
upsidedown cats (synodontis)
i already got the dino eel
if you guys have any more suggestions please post
what about Congo tetra or are they to slow?

The catfish idea is a good one i think. You could get a African Butterfly fish aswell if you wanted.

i used to having a reef type tank with all sorts of differant kinds of fish and inverts. i switched to an africain cichlid tank. it has
2 kenyi
1 blue zebra
1 white scrofi
1 red zebra
and after a while it bothers me that there is only one type of fish and no inverts. is there any suggestions for uping the biodyversity in my tank? what about plants?

Go with some Tiger Barbs & if your ph is quite high, don't add the BN.


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Hey Jeremy!

I wouldn't do a knife fish, they get way to big and they would be really shy in that tank until they get really big, and then he would not fit any more. Tiger barbs might be a possibility if you could buy ones that were larger so they would not get beaten up.

What about giant danios?

Last edited by Hooktor at 06-Aug-2005 16:00

what about knifes or elephant nose
i'm looking for somthing native
a guy at the pet store i go to told me that avacado puffer's are the only thing he has had luck with keeping africans
but i don't know if thats native

Well if your ph is high theres not much you can put in there. But if its around 7 or so i would go with some tiger barbs or danios.

Yes, the BN can be kept with them. I recently learned that BN plec's and actually most other plecs for that matter, can be kept with african cichlids without problems.

As for other cichlid companions, I can't really help.

I don't know too much about those kind of fish, but I think you *might* be able to keep a bristlenose pleco in there.

40 gal
but is there any no cichlid fish that could go with them like a top water or somthing?

Increase the numbers of the fish you got in there now. I would also get some Yellow labs. Africans tend to be a bit rough on live plants, but plastic ones do best kind in my tank. I would'nt go with any inverts, the cichlids will eat them. What size is your tank?