I knew when I made the decision to make my 40 gallon into a cichlid tank , that they would take over. They took on sharks 4 times their size , tiger oscars were no match. I don't mean to come off as sounding cruel , although I know I just did. But I like the cichlid tank. Nothing has colors like those Malawi cichlids.
2007-01-18 01:50:24 · 13 answers · asked by Vincent W 3 in Pets ➔ Fish
Oh , and those of you that are inexperienced , don't give me the "Chinese fighting fish" crappola. I have had less benign fish like tiger barbs tear them a new one.
2007-01-18 01:51:48 · update #1
Bad answers get the thumbs down , I will award 10 points for the best story though.
Pet store managers , why not just tell the story. Thats all Iwant , I am not "changing" my cichlid tank again.
2007-01-18 01:59:55 · update #2
I AM NOT INTERESTED IN KNOWING WHAT WILL GO WITH MY CICHLIDS. I HAVE EXPERIENCE (15 YEARS WITH AQUARIUMS) , I JUST WANT STORIES. 10 POINTS TO THE BEST STORY.
2007-01-18 02:09:49 · update #3
The roughest, toughest fish I have ever kept probably would be a large male Parachromis motaguensis (too many common names to bother with). I got the fish as a juv. of course and watched him remove any tank mate with great gusto. Nothing less than 3-4 times his size was even close to a match. I finally put him in a 160 gal tank with a 22 lb Pacu that could basically ignore him at his 6-7 inch size. A good friend and fellow fish guy nick named my fish "The Major" because he was a major ***hole LOL
2007-01-18 02:53:37 · answer #1 · answered by magicman116 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Definitely Black Belt Cichlids,"Cichlisoma" Maculicaudia,(sorry I don't know the current taxonomy).I raised a small group in a 200 gallon tank,and while I was away (collecting in Brasil) my wife returned home to find most of the water drained from the tank and approximately $2000 worth of hardwood floor ruined. The Black Belts had attacked the hoses on the canister filter,completely knocking it off at the valve,thereby creating a temporary fountain,and draining all but a couple of inches of water from the tank into our dining room. Three of the five Black Belts perished as a result,unfortunately two survived. Also surviving was my pet Albino Red Oscar,he made it by lying on his side in an inch of water and flopping over every minute or two to keep both gills wet. The surviving Black Belts grew to over 14" long and at death weighed over 5#. They had to be seperated from the Oscar by a sturdy tank divider for years.There are probably bigger and meaner aquarium fishes,C. Dovii or Cichla sp.,i.e.,Wolf Cichlids or Peacock Bass,but all other things being equal, I'm sure that if either one was introduced into the Black Belts tank they would meet an untimely end. Luckily for your Mbuna a 40 is not large enough for any of the forementioned fish.Mbuna are merely territorial and were just trying to find a place to shack up. Wolf Cichlids and Peacock Bass are predators of Mbuna sized fish. However the Black Belt is just plain mean, for a vegetarian. Hope you enjoyed the story. By the way,my wonderful wife rousted the local pet shop owner out of bed at 11:00 P.M. and they had it all cleaned up by dawn. Leaving me to deal with the insurance adjuster 3 days later when I got home from the jungle,and we're still married 15 years later. I have another story about a Wolf Cichlid matched up against a large Black Piranha,but I don't have time for that now. PeeTee
2007-01-18 02:57:11 · answer #2 · answered by PeeTee 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Cichlids are bad *** fish, but I had a red piranha that ate cichlids for breakfast. The piranha was the smallest fish in the tank, little by little everything else disappeared.
2007-01-18 02:32:16 · answer #3 · answered by Fester Frump 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ciclids are aggressive. Point Blank. They are rough and hardy, as well as extremely territorial fish. You would be best to put other types of ciclids in the tank with them, and use a divider at first to keep them apart but within vision. Jack Dempseys will go fairly well with Malawi.
2007-01-18 02:06:12 · answer #4 · answered by bluebettalady 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You would never suspect it but a black shark, he grew twice the size of my hand.He started eating my veryyyyy large Discus, Large Angel fish...we are talking fish large enough to be worth 60 to 80 dollars each . and then he even at my placostimus & those things are dangerous & have a protective spike on their back. I tried feeder gold fish but NOOOOOOOOOOOO he wanted my GOOD fish.
2007-01-18 02:01:44 · answer #5 · answered by earthangel_candy 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My aunt had a Cichlid, it was mean, if it saw you int he room he would butt himself against the side of the tank to try to bite you.... :/
2007-01-18 02:31:54 · answer #6 · answered by Me... :) 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My sister and her bf have a flowerhorn in their tank, he is one mean fish!! he will kill ANY fish that sets fin in his tank. They recently bought a knife fish (or whatever they are called) and he was dead within a couple of hours..... poor little guy! =(
2007-01-18 03:37:47 · answer #7 · answered by Kari R 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Cichlids... they are mean and will eat all the other fish!
2007-01-18 01:59:34 · answer #8 · answered by dylol 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
unforunatly tho, cichlids are very hard to introduce new fish too. and the fish i would recomend would kill your cichlids. its pretty much a cichlid tank.
allright. id say put in a wolf cichlid (Parachromis dovii) and watch him kill your cichlids.
2007-01-18 01:55:39 · answer #9 · answered by Twilite 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋
my northern pike that i had in my tank as a teenager would have loved to have your cichilds over to play
2007-01-18 02:01:04 · answer #10 · answered by hill bill y 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋