African Cichlid schooling tankmates?

[Bur01014]

I have an all male-peacock tank, but am looking to increase movement in the tank. Peacocks are known to float aimlessly, detecting movement, assuming it is food and that is exactly what they do, lol. Anyways, peacocks are no where near how aggressive mbuna's are.....that being said, is there any schooling type fish (perhaps semi-aggressive) that I could add to the 55 gallon to get some movement? I have housed tiger barbs with them just fine, but I never really liked them.....any other suggestions? I would add some Haps, but then again, no movement, no schooling.....I would add some female peacocks, but the movement produced could be lethal depending on domination levels.....any ideas? Perhaps, personal experiences of other peacock owners? I have heard many add a school of rainbows or something similar....

[Bur01014]

oops, I now realize I might should have posted this in the "compatibility" section.....sorry monitors

[Bur01014]

also....sorry....I have housed some yellow labs, but tried other mbunas but had to remove them....even the labs tore up a few of my peacocks.....at least mbuna's are fairly active though :)

[thatcichlidguy]

Maybe some smaller cyprichromis, though they do tend to stay more to the top of the tank.

[Bur01014]

thanks! I will look into those....i know some cats are compatible as well....but don't think they school actively??

[Scrup]

Skunk loaches, if you get 6+ will school, but they are known to be nocturnal (mine aren't) and do get along with rougher fish. They don't pick fights usually, but can stand up to the meanest cichlid.

Giant danios may be a good option.

[Bur01014]

thought about the giant danios....but for a 55 gallon with roughly 5 male peacocks....would that be overstocked? How many danios is needed? Do they get fairly large?

I'm running 2 Aquaclear 70s and one Penguin Biowheel 200....also a small sponge filter...lol, I am filter crazy, but figured might as well have some good media going if something fails.....giant danios might be the route to go! Then again, I don't remember them having much color :(

I will go look up skunk loaches....thanks for help!

[Scrup]

my 6 danios are in my 55G Mbuna tank, and it is a bit crowded. (moving them to a 125 in a few weeks) They get about 4" max. and are always schooling together. I would get at least 5-6 of them, the more the better.

[Aeonflame]

How about synodontis cats? I've read that they are compatible with rift lake cichlids (aggression, water etc) Not a schooling fish, but an interesting addition nonetheless.

edit: just saw you have a 55 gallon. Not sure if that would be large enough for all synodontis species.. but Synodontis multipunctatus is a smaller type.

[Mith]

Cyprichromis leptosoma"Utinta"

These are Tanganyikan fish, open water schooling fish. I had 6 of them in with my Mbuna fish and they did fine. They do school, so get at least 4-6 of them. I only have one left, but that's because the others died because my electric co shut my power off for about 11 hours (GRRRRR).

They're cute little fish. Also consider Calvus, they're great with Mbuna fish!

[Bur01014]

What about some larger tetras? Like congo tetras? My peacocks never go near my tiger barbs....would larger tetras be a different story?

[thatcichlidguy]

The African tetras have the same water requirements as SA fish, soft and acidic, which is about as opposite as it gets from rift lake cichlids.