Aquarium is a small mysterious underwater world, admiring which you can escape from the everyday hustle and bustle. However, many beginner aquarists make one big mistake: they populate the tank without first asking about the compatibility of the selected inhabitants. Today we will consider cichlids and we will figure out which “neighbors” are suitable for them.
Who are they?
Cichlids (cichlids) are fish that belong to the family of laccharides, the order of perciform. According to various sources, the number of species ranges from 2000 to 3000. In nature, cichlids live in North, South and Central America, Africa (mainly lakes Tanganyika and Malawi), Asia and Madagascar. Cichlids are bright and unusual fish that attract many aquarists not only for their unique appearance, but also for their behavior: they are wonderful caring parents.
But it is worth remembering that these are predators who are aggressive towards outsiders of their territory, so it is very important to study the list of suitable "neighbors" and potential victims.
Content Rules
So that cichlids are always healthy and energetic, you need to follow the following tips from experienced aquarists regarding their contents:
- the capacity where cichlids will live should have a volume of at least 150 liters, and better - more than 200 liters;
- diffused light is desirable for lighting;
- It is certainly worth installing filters and aerator;
- every week it is supposed to clean the tank and change the water in it;
- cichlids do not tolerate low water temperatures, so it should always be kept at + 28 ° C.
These fish love to hide and dig holes, so it is recommended to use coarse sand as soil and decorate the bottom with the help of artificially created grottoes, caves, stone slides.
Compatible with other fish
It is worth considering the compatibility table of some popular species of cichlids with other inhabitants of the aquarium world.
Variety | Aquarium plants | Compatible with other fish |
Meek Cichlazoma | It is advisable to plant large plants with hard leaves: anubias, echinodorus. | Get along with Akars, scalars. They are at enmity with astronotuses, since they are superior in size and more aggressive. |
Eight-lane cichlazoma (bee cichlazoma) | Echinodorus and Anubias. | Any small fish will become prey for them, so it is recommended to settle them with large ones: plextomuses, black pack, brocade pterigoplichitis. |
Tsikhlazoma Severum | It is recommended to plant plants with powerful roots and hard leaves, as well as those that grow quickly - vallisneria, cryptocoryns. | Severum can get along with catfish, astronotuses. But the neighborhood with a small guppy-type small fish, neon is fraught with death for the latter. |
Astronotus | These fish are very fond of spoiling green spaces. That is why it is recommended to put stones, heavy driftwood, clay shards into the aquarium for astronotuses, but do not plant plants. For decorative purposes, you can use artificial ones. | Tolerant to representatives of cichlids (if only those are not smaller in size). Any small, slowly swimming fish is eaten. |
Variety | Aquarium plants | Compatible with other fish |
Apistogram Ramirezi (butterfly cichlid) | It differs from relatives in that it does not touch plantations and does not delve into the ground. Therefore, you can plant water moss, fern, wallisneria, echinodorus and other plants. | Non-aggressive fish. It can coexist calmly with black mollys, guppies, swordsmen, neons, rhodostomuses, and pecilia. You can not keep together with other cichlids, catfish, goldfish. |
The parrot | It is recommended to plant hornwort for cleaning and filtering water. It is advisable to strengthen the root system with pebbles so that the parrot cannot dig out the plant. | Tolerant to most fish, similar in size to them. Recommended "neighbors": Congo, swordsmen, black malls, Sumatran barbs. |
Chromis handsome | Perhaps the only plant recommended for planting is Anubias. All others will be dug up and eaten together. | It is advisable to settle handsome chromis with large fish that will not be offended. Bee cichlids, turquoise and bluish-spotted acars are suitable. But it is better not to settle a scalar with them, since chromis love to bite their fins. |
Angelfish | Large-leaved plants (Amazon, nymphaea) are recommended for planting - they will be useful to scalars for laying eggs. | Angelfish are quite peaceful creatures, so they get along with many species of fish. They will not touch catfish, zebrafish, labeo, dwarf cichlid, and Pecilia. It is undesirable to settle along with neons, guppies, barbs, large cocky fish. |
Variety | Aquarium plants | Compatible with other fish |
Japanese Parrot (Theraps) | Therapists like to dig holes, so choose soft ground. Plant any of the plants recommended above, because the fish are indifferent to them. | Any small fish will be perceived by theraps as prey, so choose such "neighbors" as Mekek's cichloma, scalars, bluish-spotted acars, Congo, barbs (Sumatran, denisoni, lenticular), mettinis. You should be careful with the floral hoorn - it can kill theraps. |
Melanochromis Johan | The bottom of the aquarium should be laid out with stone fragments, covered with coarse sand, put clay shards there, creating artificial grottoes. Plants are not needed. | Tolerant to other varieties of cichlids.Get along with lemon cichlids, hummingbirds, pawnshops, cichloe ocellaris. |
Auratus "The Golden Parrot" | Only hard-leaved Anubias is recommended for planting, as other aquatic plants will be destroyed. | Auratus is an aggressor, especially male fish. It’s best to lodge them either with those who can “give back”, for example, with pseudotrophies, or with fast-swimming fish living in the upper sector of the aquarium. |
Princess of burundi | It does not need underwater flora, but it will be grateful to you for decorating the bottom with stones, sand, clay shards and driftwood. | A less aggressive variety of cichlids, coexists quite well in the same territory with their relatives. However, you can’t settle them together with the Mbuna cichlid, because it is distinguished by aggression, and with the orange lamprologus, since interspecific crossing is not excluded. |
Variety | Aquarium plants | Compatible with other fish |
Blue dolphin | The recommendations are the same as for melanochromis Johan and the princess of Burundi. | Any small fish will become a victim, equally sized "neighbors" will live with the dolphin in peace and harmony. Especially recommended are African catfishes, fronts. It is better not to settle the cichlid Mbuna, since it is too aggressive. |
Pseudotrophyus Lombardo | They love to dig plants and gnaw foliage, so either plant anubias, or abandon the aquatic flora at all. | Very angry fish, ready to go on the attack on anyone who meets her on the way. Pseudotrophaeus males cannot coexist peacefully in one tank, so choose one male and several females to settle. |
Queen of Tanganyika (frontosa) | Anubias, echinodorus are recommended for landing. | They belong to non-aggressive varieties, but they so zealously guard the territory that it is desirable to contain only them. You can form a flock of one male and 3-4 females or settle 9-12 fish at once. |
Important! Cichlids do not get along with the following species:
- cockerels;
- goldfish (crucian carp, as their ancestor is also persona non grata);
- telescopes;
- guppies.
For compatibility of cichlids, see the next video.
