Best African Cichlid Tank Mates

[@XCaliKev]

👍😎 I was waiting for the standard “more African cichlids” answer. All good ideas. Shirts look really cool. ✌️

[@andrewnicholls5082]

I have kept Siamese Algae eaters with my Mbuna for the last few years with no issues. When I first set up the tank I had some black Mollies in there also and they were all fine together.

[@swatiyadav640]

Some mollies are the same size as my cichlids so they shouldn't be a problem. The only fish I've been able to keep are the algae eaters and bottom dwellers. Since the mollies were doing well I put some guppies in there, next morning I find all the guppies dead and half-eaten. Mine are Mbunas and they bit one cichlids tail off and killed it, so a species only tank is best because of cichlid aggression

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

Thanks Zenzo, your videos always have excellent information!! I have been researching and learning about Africans , so I appreciate the video!! I have had them before, but back then I had no experience or anybody to talk to or to learn from to why I was having problems. One of the main reasons I had problems was because I put ALL kind of juveniles together and wasn't prepared for when they started maturing!! I didn't understand the behaviors of them back then! I finally did have a pair survive they had so many babies I didn't know what to do 🤣 I think this time around I will do my best to have an all male tank and get to know them and their personalities a little better before I give it another go 😁 That's one of the greatest things about being here getting to learn from other people's experience! Thank you also for the chapter about African catfish!! I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!! Thank you for sharing 👍🌿🐟🌿💚

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

I appreciated ALL of the chapters and the breakdown of tankmates for Africans. This really helps me when setting up my next tank ♥️👍🙌 big thumbs up my friend 🥰

[@haroldgreen1425]

I'll add two companions that worked well for me over the years. First if you have a tank at least four foot long and high enough to be considered a show tank. Add a school of congo tetras. I have never seen an african cichlid pay the congos even a second of attention. They normally occupy the top level of the tank and give that smooth schooling behavior lacking in the chaos of a cichlid tank. They also get up to 3 or more inches so they can match most younger cichlids in size for a while. Now a second fish. Many years ago I bought a black pacu, about the size of a silver dollar and raised him in a tank of juvenile cichlids. He eventually got big enough to go into an eight foot long breeding tank with dozens of adult six inch africans. When he was around eight pounds you'd see him cruizing around the tank with dozens of one inch or smaller juvenile africans swarming around him as I fed the tank. Nothing makes me sadder than to go to a fish store and seeing a young pacu put into a tank with feeder gold fish forcing him to eat them or starve. I've never seen a pacu eat a live fish. Mine was fed a homemade fish food that contained spinach, liver, carrots, shrimp and a dozen eggs all jelled in a warm skillet before freezing. He loved it and the africans ate it with relish. In an emergency scrambled eggs are likely one of the best fish foods you can feed.

[@valiantred]

I keep a fully grown red eared slider with my mbuna. And no, contrary to believe, she doesn't eat or chase any of them. And yes, I need A LOT of filtration, but not as much as you might think. About the same as an typical overstocked tank. 2 FX5's and 2 wave makers.

[@paulmccarthy7467]

Love African cichlids so entertaining to watch and they some awesome colours. some good interesting ideas of what to keep with them. I’ve got large bristle nose with mine. T-shirts looks good.

[@element-dh9dx]

Wow more gorgeous fish in this video

[@GeneralGP114]

My bristlenose is about 5 inches, he takes no mess from my african cichlids. They don't bother him at all , not even my venustus that's 7 to 8 inches . Feeding time the bristlenose going wild on them lol funny to watch.

[@brushlessmicrot]

Same here. It’s as if my Africans don’t even see my albino bristle nose.

[@bluemountainicehockey3131]

Same dude I have 2 African cats as well no issues

[@joplogers]

I have a red severum and 3 blue polar parrots on my 100gallon african cichlid tank. They get along just fine. 😊

[@andreashessler838]

Jewels would do well in an East African tank. They are beautiful fish but ridiculously aggressive. I tried to build a West African tank with some Kribs and Tomasi. The Jewels had to go back, they were intent on trying to destroy the other fish.

[@TazawaTanks]

Yeah, they are tough little fish for sure!

[@cajungirl7811]

First of all, I always have mbunas & I like to add something else in simply because I can look at that tank & not see a single fish when the mbunas are alone. I love giving my mbunas enough places to hide & be at home but I like seeing fish in my tank. I would like something moving around the bottom or swimming around mid to higher range. I have kept plecos (rubber lip was not good), parrot cichlids & even 1 old mean betta successfully with mbunas. Clown loaches too but they are too sickly once they get stressed, so it's not worth it to me. I never thought of rainbows but I'm not sure about that just due to how many I would need. I saw another video of yours where you said nerite snails could work as well & I may try that. I saw some other loaches that supposedly work well that I intend to research. Or I may just return to parrots simply because I love them. However, I really want something to clean up a little, so obviously, I'm just starting my research. I may return to what I know but maybe not. I know what I'm not interested in at least. Thanks for the info.

[@shaylafinnamore3991]

Convicts, white and black, parrot fish, Mumbuna, redtail shark, happs, milimo, zebra, bristlenose pleco, labs,

[@jasonschuster5956]

I have 13 mixed african cichlids and 3 pictus catfish in a 125 that works very well

[@itsdomosreactions3065]

I got 3 red tail sharks , 1 pictus catfish, 5 goldfish , 1algae eater , 6 African cichlids all in one day and they are doing well

[@andreamayo330]

I have a Fourlined Catfish with my cichlids and there hasn’t been a single problem. I also have a Rainbow shark in my cichlid tank. Unfortunately, it was pretty aggressive at first, then I separated it for a while to another tank, it has been back in the cichlid tank for many months and has calmed way down! However, rainbow shark only chilled out because I went from a 30 gal. to a 75 gal. The more room, the better.

[@loganhiatt6101]

I’ve have kept a spotted synodontis catfish with my orange zebra African cichlid

[@Shane-ps3rn]

I have 2 clown loach bristlenose and a jack Dempsey in with my pEacocks the all get on fine.as for water parameters most are farm bred fish which have evolved to live with our water parameters here in the uk are water is all different depending on the town or city you live. Love your vids keep them coming 🇬🇧

[@daverube715]

I’ve never had luck with Plecos. The African cichlids bite out they’re eyes! They do it every time and the plecos I’ve tried are about 6”. My tank is 75gal

[@STORIEDAMAAN]

I keep jack Dempsey with my mbuna. Goes flawless! All juveniles rn 2inch

[@HAL-cp4mt]

The great thing about African cichlids is that they are the cleanup crew, a species only tank work very well for me, same as a gold fish only tank or a barb only tank.

[@Leroy62914]

I have got a rusty pleco, clown pleco and whiptail catfish in there with mine for about 2 years now.

[@joseCalderon1976]

Have a standard pleco with my African chiclid Mbunas in my 75g tank. They try to bully him, but he holds his own

[@marksterlson]

i have 3 super red plecos in the 90 gallon tank with african cichlids and as they all went in at the same time as small fish there has been no problems so far.

[@thefishwitch2137]

I have a female bristlenose pleco in my MBuna tank and one in my Peacock tank. So far so good.

[@kingmar2009]

I have a african ciclid tank that's been going great for about a year now and I've added a green terror and a pearl ciclid

[@apss5736]

i would also add nerite snails with africans and they are great at eating algae but i would watch out with shelldwellers

[@thedamnedatheist]

I keep bristlenoses with my cichlids. Prime Time Aquatics had a tank with a couple of Oscars sharing with OB cichlids.

[@gethighonlife11]

I learned the hard way about keeping other fish with African Cichlids. I now only keep ACs with a small clean up crew, i.e. Synodontis Catfish and Pictus Catfish.

[@mazda_rt24-p]

I had a pictus, it was total garbage, it didn't clean anything and just swam up and down the bubble stream and suddenly died one day

[@keepamerica2astrong280]

Yo Z Good vid, nice tanks. I enjoy my all male Peacock cichlid tank. No need for me to mix and match...But great ideas for sure...

[@cichlid_kings]

Hey Zenzo great recommendations on this tricky subject. In my experience I found that the best tank mates for my Lake Malawi Peas/Haps were Lake Malawi Peas/Haps. 😎 Now I also recently set up a Frontosa tank for my wife, a few months ago, with a Synodontis that tags along with full grown common pleco. 😉 We also have a Blue Panaque (L239) and Blue Phantom (L128) in with the Frontosa and they all get along great. 😎 BTW tanks and fish room are looking pristine.

[@travishulse5827]

I love my bristnose I have them in every African cichlid tank I will say the long fins never last tho and yes they have to be at least 3 in if you have a well Behaved Cichlid tank you should be all good to have bristle nose in there if you have a pretty chaotic tank though I would wait till they’re at least full grown I will say that I usually don’t have a problem when introducing 2 to 3 inch plug goes in my tank but sometimes it does happen but that’s just with everything I can’t just say it’s just a pleco’s because that even sometimes happens with Cichlids if there’s smaller they might get picked on that’s just the name of the game

[@oxiplasty]

It's hard to keep mbunas with aulonolaras because mbunas can't have too much protein.

[@wabalaka1565]

I love the blue polar parrot fish in my African cichlid tank. So far it work just fine most of the time my parrot cichlid is the one who chase other around but it can't really do any serious damage because of the deformed mouth shape they have. When you keep African cichlid you don't look for color anymore you tend to look for different shape.

[@andreashessler838]

They are great! I have 3 in a community tank. Not overly aggressive at all. They are actually not a hybrid of the parrot cichlid (even though they do look like them). They are a short bodied/balloon version of the convict/HRP. The only problem is that they spawn continuously.

[@wabalaka1565]

@@andreashessler838 I thought they are convict + parrot Hybrid 😂 That make senses now because they breed like crazy and I'm confuse because Hybrid suppose to be infertile. They do breed like convict that is why I only have 1 in my African tank.

[@andreashessler838]

@@wabalaka1565 I have 3 females, so all good. They are full of personality. I've had convicts before, these seem nowhere near as aggressive though.

[@ericvickery1698]

Love my African cichlid tank. Check it out. I broke some of your rules. Or non recommendations. But it’s working.

[@kkolsen2001]

In the past I kept a Silver Arowana with african cichlids in a 100 gallon tank. They coexisted peacefully (relatively).

[@TazawaTanks]

What did you do when the Arowana got big? Eventually they would be able to eat the African cichlids.

[@kkolsen2001]

@@TazawaTanks The Arowana got about 18" long and never had any problems. Then I moved and gave it to a friend. I never heard about any issues from him either.

[@agordon7369]

New to the freshwater world and am setting up a 150 with a 75 gallon sump and am thinking about some bumblebees, electric yellow and electric blue. Do you think they could pair well together? Thank you so much for all your videos they have been a huge help.

[@otakusama___kawaii1198]

Why is my chiclid and tetra are comfortable living in the same tank ..I mean I thought chiclid will attact my tetra but it did not

[@Vetsch01]

Great video. Are there any smaller schooling fish that can be kept with African Cichlids? I like the look of the larger fish with busy schools around them. Thanks!

[@saintsdustaquariums]

Beautiful cichlids

[@williamblansett5786]

Actually I have successfully kept many of the other fish you mentioned with my African Cichlids along with Kribensis. I had plenty of limeston worm rock in those tanks. Although they were successful, I would NOT recommend to other aquarists and never to a novice. I was surprised you did not mention the Central American Cichlids because of the hardwater lakes there are just a little softer than some of the African Rift Valley Lakes. Most of the Central American Cichlids are comparably huge and many are super predators. It would probably be risky to put in even the medium built Yellow-belly Ciclid (Trichromis salvini) or Mini-dovii (Chiapaheros grammodes) even with the predatory Haps. But there are others. The Firemoth Cichlid (Thorichthys meeki) could be put with the Peacock Cichlids and both of the Haps but NOT the Mbuna (IMO). However the Covict (Amatitiania negrofasciata) with other Amatitiania species along with the Blue Demon Cichlid or Neet also called Poor man's Thropeus (Hypsophrys nematopus), sometimes seen to operate a cleaning station for other fish, and the Macaw Cichlid or Nic (Hypsophrys nicaraguensis) who sometimes acts as a babysister for orphaned Dovii fry persumely protecting the Dovii fry from Neet who will kill the fry. This is due to the chief predator of Neet being the Central American Wolffish (Parachromis dovii) aka Dovii or Rainbow Bass. Some have suggested that the Macaw Cichlid protects the Dovii fry as revenge because colonies of Neet usurp the breeding areas of Macaw Cichlids. Neet vs Nic!

[@PULAG]

Will Pictus catfish get along with Synodontis Catfish?

[@mamabirdyful]

I have a full grown rainbow shark in my mature mbuna tank and he's the biggest bully in the tank. He makes it extremely difficult to add new mbuna and has killed many a new fish. A beautiful fish but I regret putting him in there...

[@leam89]

You sure its a rainbow and not a red tail? Rainbows tend to be a lot less aggressive

[@mamabirdyful]

@@leam89 yes all the fins are red and the body is all black, he's 5 inches long and will go ballistic if I add anything new to the tank

[@johnmontano3733]

10:25 you can see a cichlid chasing another small fish lol 😂

[@AFO90]

I’ve got 5 clown loaches with my African cichlids. They swim and eat right along with the cichlids with no issues 🤙

[@dhammaboy1203]

I’ve toyed for a year on and off now on whether to add a Polleni in with my haps / Peacocks. I would be interested to know if anyone has done this long term out there? Did any problems come of it? Thanks Zenzo for another great video!

[@jenniferbunker2757]

Could you add glow fish ?

[@frankiefingerz8047]

I keep 4 loaches w my peacocks haps it works great they keep my bottom clean & my cichlids dont bother my loaches plus to me theyre attractive unlike plecos

[@mattbatcher802]

I find that Tanganyikans can mix well with both the mbuna and Haps. They are much calmer than the Malwians but have nasty teeth and move in bursts that will make the Malawians leave them alone.

[@patrickholack8536]

I have 6 ,7-8 inch Siamese sucking catfish in with large peacocks and Frontosa.. There is never any issues.. But I have lost of hidy holes and breeding cave's.

[@amyc.8671]

How do I keep the tank clean with cichlids if they eat other fish.

[@jackiestubbs6964]

I have had Giant Danios with my Peacocks.

[@alfredsinkllc4870]

Nice video

[@gabesoares8152]

Guy at petco said I could place this fish in my tank that had 6 skirt tetras but now I’m worried

[@JhunDumsTVXj]

Wow nice beautiful.

[@TazawaTanks]

If you liked this video, here is an African Cichlid Care Guide that you may enjoy watching: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5rLm6OLaL6Ujbc INTO THE AM Discount Link: intotheam.com/tazawa (this is not an affiliate link, only a discount link) Aquarium Co-Op Rainbow Fish video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5SyZHZ9lN2ba5o Link to fish foods, plants, and aquarium supplies www.aquariumcoop.com Follow me on Instagram: instagram.com/Tazawa_Tanks Tazawa Tanks Merchandise: shop.spreadshirt.com/tazawa-tanks/all

[@prathameshvedak]

Can I keep golden algae eater and African cichlid together ?

[@benjaminmarquart969]

That's a dope shirt

[@benjaminmarquart969]

I wrote this comment before your ad, but I've been rocking their shirts for a couple of years.

[@saibharathmanivasagan4419]

How can pleco live in nutral tank raised water paremeter and not a clown loach?

[@MrAjenn]

Hi Zenzo, I'm currently running a 55 gallon tank with 4 peacocks, 13 blackskirt tetras, 3 clown loaches, and a bristlenose pleco... so far so good. Do you have any advice in what I should do? Should I add more peacocks? I'm planning on getting more coz they're not that colorful right now

[@tromolonmotions4776]

You at the very least need to get a much bigger tank for those clown loaches

[@josephfahie8147]

Can I put my denison bards and cichlids in the same tank?

[@johnlobsta3640]

Not sure about denison barbs, but I have eyelash barbs in with my Mbuna, and they do great, they look pretty similar to denison barbs

[@bishrob345]

Barbs, tigers and denison. Red tails, rainbow sharks. Beunos Aires tetras. Rafael cat

[@PheonFierce]

How do you get hard water?

[@dattdude6077]

What about red ear sliders?

[@huntersharddrive6951]

I keep two adult north eastern painted turtles with my Mbuna in a 125 gallon. I usually feed the turtles in a separate small tank of water because both the fish and turtles will go at each others food plus it helps keep the water clean. Turtles foul the water quickly so lots of filtration and regular water changes. Other than competing for food they have never had a problem. No interest in each other at all.

[@huntersharddrive6951]

Plenty of people will tell you disaster stories however. No guarantee it works or that I won’t someday have a bunch of half eaten expensive fish. Four years in however and never a problem.

[@PreditoryFishkeeper]

I keep an albino African clawed frog with my African cichlids in my 300 gallon

[@marjanaking404notfound3]

Is kribensis save to keep with other African cichlid?

[@johnlobsta3640]

I have 2 kribensis in with my Mbuna in a 125 with LOTS of rock work, along with rainbow's and some fresh water lake chubs (minnow) they all do fine together. I also have 2 female convicts and 3 eyelash barbs in there as well. No issues.

[@kylemendoza8860]

Aren't Cichlids also fast swimmers? Mine could really dart

[@dereklee7965]

12 African cichlids mixed with two convicts and a pink kissing grommy

[@lukeo85]

🤙

[@Ashleyapples]

my rainbow fish didn’t survive, but like my giant danio cause he swims all over

[@agnijitdas9399]

ᴄᴀɴ ɪ ᴋᴇᴇᴩ ᴛɪɢᴇʀ ʙᴀʀʙ ᴡɪᴄʜ ᴄɪᴄʜʟɪᴅꜱ??

[@things_and_such8566]

You just shouldn't keep anything else with Africans. Just set up another tank for other stuff.