Cichlid questions.

[Celestial Fireflies]

cєℓєsтιαℓ ғιʀєғℓιєs:

Hey guys, I noticed that cichlids are very popular in our store. A lot of people get them, and a lot of people have questions about them.

I don't know if this is a complete list, but I am 90% sure that we carry: jack dempseys, tiger oscars, red devils, kenyi african cichlids, electric yellow labidochromis, electric blue, red parrots, auratus african, and acei cichlids.

I've heard that you can pair africans with africans and south americans with south americans, but I don't really know much about what kind of fish can be put in the same tank with other fish. I think that's the biggest thing, is what can these fish be put in a tank with (given enough tank space). The next thing is, will these fish eat other fish?

I'm planning on doing some research tonight, but if you guys have some personal experience or resources you could point me towards, I would really appreciate that. 3nodding I would especially love to hear from those of you who have experience, because it's a lot easier to cite experiences than just research.

Thank you so much!  

[ladycrotalus]

Celestial Fireflies

cєℓєsтιαℓ ғιʀєғℓιєs:

Hey guys, I noticed that cichlids are very popular in our store. A lot of people get them, and a lot of people have questions about them.

I don't know if this is a complete list, but I am 90% sure that we carry: jack dempseys, tiger oscars, red devils, kenyi african cichlids, electric yellow labidochromis, electric blue, red parrots, auratus african, and acei cichlids.

I've heard that you can pair africans with africans and south americans with south americans, but I don't really know much about what kind of fish can be put in the same tank with other fish. I think that's the biggest thing, is what can these fish be put in a tank with (given enough tank space). The next thing is, will these fish eat other fish?

I'm planning on doing some research tonight, but if you guys have some personal experience or resources you could point me towards, I would really appreciate that. 3nodding I would especially love to hear from those of you who have experience, because it's a lot easier to cite experiences than just research.

Thank you so much!

I generally am against mixing south americans with africans and even in the locals, certain species will not get along with other species. Especially with africans, you have cichlids from Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi that shouldn't be mixed. Cichlids i find are more complex and it depends on each certain species.
This site and it's fish profiles have helped me and when i was asked something i didn't know i just told the customer "one sec i will go find out" and i hopped on the comp at work and looked it up.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/

Although there were always those people who wanted to mix that and that and that and didn't give a crap whether they lived or died.  

[Vanilla eXee]

At petsmart, anything in the "mixed cichlid" tanks are literally that, mixed. They're usually hybrids and the general consensus in the fish community is that hybrids are bad. I can't help with that, but, most of the cichlids you're talking about get rather large, especially oscars and JDs.