Lake Victoria Basin, West African, Madagascar & Asian Species • Compatability Lake Victoria / Lake Malawi

[Vince7424]

I've been having a hard time finding a good compatibility chart for this.
I was wondering, are lake Victoria cichlids compatible with lake Malawi cichlids?
Is it better to just keep Lake Victoria cichlids in a Lake Victoria tank and the Lake Malawi cichlids in a Lake Malawi tank?

[Vince7424]

Maybe I should be more specific. Would a Haplochromis sp. #44 "thickskin" be compatible in a tank with a Jewel, Yellow Lab, Blue Cobalt, and Red Zebre?

[Tankbuddy]

I've tried it before in my malawi tank( Haplochromis sp. #44 ), i have to admit he was pretty agressive even if he was way smaller than the others, its a beautiful fish but i wouldnt recommend it in a malawi tank

[Vince7424]

I've tried it before in my malawi tank( Haplochromis sp. #44 ), i have to admit he was pretty agressive even if he was way smaller than the others, its a beautiful fish but i wouldnt recommend it in a malawi tank

Thank you, I'm going to take your advise and get it.

[samaki]

Hi I won't keep sp 44 with vics neither, it's a too agressive species and may cross with any other vics, it's very particular with this species
xris

[johnchor]

hello vince,

i will say go for it!

you have lots of mbuna there should be good for the mix.
but i wouldn't mix with peacocks or haps.

Maybe I should be more specific. Would a Haplochromis sp. #44 "thickskin" be compatible in a tank with a Jewel, Yellow Lab, Blue Cobalt, and Red Zebre?

[brinkles]

I'd keep the vic with any of those malawians, but wouldn't keep those particular malawians together!

The red zebras will cross with either the yellow labs or Cobalt zebras. No experience with the jewels, but I've heard a pair can get pretty nasty.

[dreday]

i keep mbuna with vics quite a bit. I use the mbuna as dithers for my vics. the mbuna can take the aggression and dont want to cross with the vics. currently i use white tail acei with my vics. they are extremely prolific so i have no shortage of fish to use.

but it does not work with all the vics. i have a group of Astatoreochromis alluaudi and they were pretty timid around me. They were not aggressive towards each other so i used a hap species i had growing out and put about 8 in the tank with them. I used the haps because i knew they like to swim about out around the top of the tank. it sure worked, within 2 days all of the alluaudi were coming out during feeding time and swimming around much more. the haps signaled to them that everything was well and they could swim out with out fear.

the species you mentioned should work out with the sp44.

[Mike_G]

What about keeping a smallish-sized trio of Sp44 with 4 yellow labs, 3 C. Mooris, 4 Placidochromis electra, and 1 Demasoni?

[dreday]

What size tank are we talking here?

That would work in a 75g and larger tank. I have found that mooris not to be aggressive but tend to be almost like bouncers. they get in the middle but dont do damage. One demasoni would be trouble though. It would try to spawn with any females in there, and if it was a female would end up spawning with one of the males.

to avoid cross breeding it is good to have enough of each species to keep them interested in each other. the trio is pushing it but could work. if you dont care about the fry then you are set to go.

[Mike_G]

What size tank are we talking here?

That would work in a 75g and larger tank. I have found that mooris not to be aggressive but tend to be almost like bouncers. they get in the middle but dont do damage. One demasoni would be trouble though. It would try to spawn with any females in there, and if it was a female would end up spawning with one of the males.

to avoid cross breeding it is good to have enough of each species to keep them interested in each other. the trio is pushing it but could work. if you dont care about the fry then you are set to go.

They're in a 55 gallon- yes, I know the Mooris will eventually outgrow the tank, the biggest one is ~3" so I've got some time. I haven't added the Electras yet, I'm supposed to be getting four 2-inchers tomorrow. I may try to grow them out a little more in my 37 gallon before putting them in the 55 if they end up being on the small side. The Demasoni hangs out in his cave and pretty much keeps to himself and has been no problem whatsoever, in fact this group is the least aggressive bunch of Africans I've ever kept. I did have some problems with the labs when there were only 3 of them, then I added one 2-1/4" female and their behavior totally changed and now they all swim around together like a big happy family LOL

Thanks for the reply by the way, I appreciate the help.