Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / March 2004

CIchlids go good with Cichlids, and even then you'll want to take into
account where they are from (ie, mixing mbuna and convicts would just
suck) and their water chemistry requirements.

My cichlids prefer chewing on the sand at the bottom, but they'll swim
all over the place.

My rockwork reaches about 1/4 foot from the top of the tank, and
they'll sometimes hang out up there.

The diversity of cichlids around the world requires that you specify what
type of cichlids you have.  Discus, Oscars, Rams and Angelfish are all
cichlids, each with unique behaviours, and not sharing much with the
African cichlids.  Some cichlids will tear your plants apart, others will
eat them, and some will ignore them.  Some cichlids will hide under cover
until they see dither fish in the tank.  Dither fish are what cichlids
look out and see swimming back & forth without harm.  The presence of
dither allows many types of young cichlids to roam around the tank.  If
there are no dither, the cichlids are in no hurry to reveal themselves to
predators (aquatic or airborne).  Depending on the cichlids and the size
of the tank, some dither will be better than others.  Typical ditherfish
are fast and/or cylindrical.  Fish which fall into this category belong
to the families of rainbowfish, tetras, danios, barbs and monos.

Once comfortable with their surrounding, most mbuna, riverine and dwarfs
will be happy keeping in the lower half of a tank.  Angelfish and Discus
will spend a bit more time in the mid-tank.  Utaka will roam the mid to
upper reaches, until they start spawning.   Medium-sized Central & South
Americans often operate out of a base camp, and then roam the tank.
Large cichlids try to own the entire tank ;~).  These are all
generalities.  Research the particular fish you've purchased, or will be
purchasing.

NetMax