Adding Africans In With My Electric Blue Acara's

[maligne]

I have a 55 gallon set up right now with two electric blue acara. Iv had them in there for a year and a half. I am pretty sure they are full grown. They have not changed in size for about six months and they are about 4 inches. They are alone right now but I have had bolivian rams in there and rainbows and the acars have never bothered any one. I have a nice soft sandy substrate. My PH is 7.8 out of the tap, lots of drift wood caves and hides. So I have been thinking about adding some Africans. Maybe a couple of tanganyikan shell dwellers or a couple of other smaller African Cichlid. What is the opinion on this?

[jvision]

You could probably get away with some smaller Tangs. I'd stay away from the rock-dwellers (Neolamprologus, Julidochroms) and Altolamprologus spp. But the smaller shell dwellers (L. similis - I know where you can get some - L. brevis, L. mulitfaciatus) could work out, but stay away from bigger guys like L. ocellatus or larger. Tho they're quite a bit smaller than your Acara, they are quite aggressive and could overpower their larger tankmates.. You could also go with some of the open-water spp. like Cyprichromis or Paracyprichromis spp. They get a little boisterous when spawning, but otherwise they stick tho themselves - Paracyps seem to be quite passive IME.

Do your best to get tank-raised fish. Unless you are doing regular large WCs, lots of driftwood in the tank can leach tannic acid, which will lower the pH and soften the water; wild Tangs may not adjust to that. However, if you're doing large regular WCs (I do 30-50% every 4-7 days), your tank water will stay pretty close to what comes out of the tap, which is pretty good for African cichlids.

That all being said, the best thing for all of your fish would be to pick fish that thrive in similar environments. African cichlids like hard water w. high pH, while South American cichlids prefer softer water and pH at or below neutral... not really a good match. It would be better to pick one group and go with them. If you want Africans, sell the Acara, replace the driftwood w. more rocks, and try something new.

[JORG]

I have a breeding pair of blue acaras in with 35 tropheus moorii and around 15 paracyps ...no problems

[maligne]

cool Thanks for all the advise. I will have to think about it!

Cheers

[maligne]

My drift woods been in the tank for over a year and it does not discolour my water and my P.H has never fluctuated. I would love to have a P.H closer to the Acaras natural environment but 7.8 is what comes out of the tap and it seems to be popular opinion that its better to keep the P.H stable than to chase a specific number and have it fluctuate. Soft water fish adapt to hard water better than a hard water fish can adapt to softer water or so iv been told. I wish I could have a perfect environment for my Acaras, I wish I could have a 200 gallon tank too lol. The acaras where born and raised in Edmonton tap water its all they have ever known.

L. similis is actually what I was thinking about last night when I wrote this post. where can I get them Dovii? Cyprichromis or Paracyprichromis is an interesting idea too!!