Just curious

[domjd05]

Are there ANY malawis that can be kept with tanganyikans?? Mbunas and some tropheus species seem to have a lot in common in terms of habitat.. (besides ph I guess)

[Red]

I wouldn't mbuna tend to be a lot more meaner and would pick at the tropheus..

[domjd05]

I'm not planning on it, I would give the mbuna away before I ever mixed the two together.. I just figured the question was worth a shot.. has anyone here ever tried it? how did it turn out? lol

[Deleted User]

Some haps can be kept with tangs.

I have haps and tangs together.

But not mbuna.

There just too mean.

[domjd05]

I am stuck

I went in my lfs and just wanted to see if he could get some tanganyikan cichlids in (in maine its hard to get some fish)

Well, he went ahead and ordered a tropheus duboisi and a tropheus moorrii.

He wants $50 for both of them.. I told him I never asked him to get the fish for me, and I cannot put them in my tank anyway.. (in a nicer way than that) .. but I secretely really want them lol.

[kaybee]

Are there ANY malawis that can be kept with tanganyikans?? Mbunas and some tropheus species seem to have a lot in common in terms of habitat.. (besides ph I guess)

Tropheus should be well equipped to hold their own in a mbuna setting and are capable of exerting their dominance in that environment due to the many similarities they share.

A tropheus duboisi inhabits my primary mbuna tank and fits right in (any aggressive behavior between it and the mbuna's, which are rare, are initiated by the tropheus!).

In a separate tank I keep various lake malawi haps with lake tanganyika frontosas.

[domjd05]

Thank you kaybee, I will go ahead with the tropheus duboisi, still not real excited about the moorii though.

[domjd05]

I really like the idea of the Haps and frontosas... would it be safe to throw some calvus in there as well?

[kaybee]

Thank you kaybee, I will go ahead with the tropheus duboisi, still not real excited about the moorii though.

Caution must be taken when acquiring multiple tropheus in too few numbers (less than 10-15 tropheus) as they are highly conspecific aggressive and must be kept in large numbers for their own safety (a single tropheus should be fine, however). I'm not sure if their aggression is directed to all other tropheus or only tropheus belonging to the same species.

I really like the idea of the Haps and frontosas... would it be safe to throw some calvus in there as well?

I've never tried calvus w/malawi haps.
While haps are generally more aggressive than frontosa's, fronts, in most instances, will ultimately have size on their side. I'm not quite sure how calvus would fare with haps.

I keep three different types of haps with frontosas (malawi blue dolphins, malawi eye biters and nimbochromis venustus). The first two have no interaction with the frontosas, and the cyrtocara moorii seem to be the most compatible so this species might get along fine with calvus.

A frontosa/calvus combo would be a more compatible combination, though they're from the same lake.

[domjd05]

Ok, thats what I thought abut the tropheus, except I just thought it was toward duboisi's, not all tropheus in general, good to know. thanks.

[Crispy]

A cichlid that will keep well with fronts/calvus/haps and almost any type of african is the malawi eye-biter (dimidiochromis compressiceps). More of a mid-top level fish who isn't too aggressive but very hardy.