New at keeping AF, 6 Labs, 4 blue Kenyi, 1 Marlieri, 1 Bumblebee

[CWO4GUNNER]

I have only had my AF Cichlid tank about a month now established and doing well with reef motif. There has been no real issues with this community other then my surprise that they will only allow another species a couple weeks to join the community i.e Cory's, feeder Goldies, Blood Parrots, before starting a systematic biting routine that escalates very fast in minutes. I managed to get the Cory,s and Blood Parrots out in time without any noticeable damage but they wanted out practically jumping into my net (1 BP actually did) but the 2 Feeder Goldies that cycled the tank successfully were tank mate with them for a month. After a long period of friendly cohabitation the 2 feeders were food one morning, literally and pardon the expression. They seem to go through a ritual of bite testing one another, if a bite is not returned, they pursue the timid. As soon as the timid bits back they reset and start over again testing a different tank mate. They also bite me when I reach in the tank on the tender part of my arm and it hurts because they just don't nibble but grab and jerk away like they are trying to pull off a piece. They are beautiful but definitely cannot be mixed with any other species right?
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[Northernguy]

Absolutely not!
They are hard water fish and most americans are slightly acidic! Africans are also much more aggressive.

[CWO4GUNNER]

Well I almost hate to admit it but I finally stopped fighting the PH and hard water battle. All three of my aquariums my 80 Acichlid tank, my 120 angle tank, and my 60 barb & Tetra tank are all 8.0 PH and have no more RO mix except for evaporation and the TDS in all 3 tanks are 960 PPM TDS after water change. The difference is my water softener which now uses potassium instead of salt and exchanges 90% of calcium/magnesium for potassium. Been 3 months now since the change and the fish and plants absolutely love it. The angels are especially doing well and growing big now. Go figure

[Dixie]

I would trade in the Marlieri right away. It's a lake tang. species with different requirements. I don't think it could stand up to mbuna long term either. I'd also trade in the bumblebee, I think they can get to 10" long and real mean to any other fish. Kenyi can be mean too but if you have them in an 80g. tank and don't have more than one male but at least 4-5 females for the male they can do ok. Check out some profiles on mbuna & ask lots of questions on forums about compatibility before buying (local pet shops don't always give the best advice).

Yes you're right, you shouldn't add other types of fish with african cichlids. Some people, me included, use bristol nosed plecos for algea eaters. Some people have trouble with the cichlids eating the eyes out of the plecos but I added the pleco and cichlids at the same time when they were both very young and this helped. Good luck.