Electric Yellow Cichlid??

[Mustang3GT07]

I have a 75 Gallon Tank which houses these fish...2 Parrot Fish, 3 tiger barbs, 2 diamond tetras, 2 bala sharks, 2 bolivian rams and 2 alge eaters. My question is can i put 1 or 2 Electric Yellow Cichlid with these fish? Ive asked about 20 different people and im getting a 50/50 yes/no response. Please let me know if i can and if i cant then why? and is there anything else i should know? Thank!

[Clerk]

I wouldn't, they are from lake Malawi so have different food and water requirements. Plus they are mean lil buggers that would kill everything.

[Laura Ann]

Originally Posted by Clerk

I wouldn't, they are from lake Malawi so have different food and water requirements. Plus they are mean lil buggers that would kill everything.

Yellow labs and mean don't belong in the same sentance They are one of the most docile of the Malawi cichlid family. However, they might think that your tetras and barbs are lunch.

Clerk is right about them having different requirements than all of your other fish. They do best in a warm tank (79-82 degrees) that is hard and high in pH.

[emc7]

acidic and high in pH

?? acid=low pH

I wouldn't put them in with your existing fish either. In a tank that size, you might get lucky for awhile, but its not good practice. Labs like hard, alkaline (high pH) water and most of your other fish have opposite requirements. Also African and South American cichlids don't communicate well, which causes them to kill each other rather than working out a pecking order.

[kay-bee]

I wouldn't recommend adding yellow labs to your current set up.

Originally Posted by Laura Ann

Yellow labs and mean don't belong in the same sentance They are one of the most docile of the Malawi cichlid family....

While generally not as aggressive as many other mbuna species, yellow labs, being african cichlids, are inherently capable of aggression:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tGJpHdCmSDM

[Laura Ann]

Originally Posted by emc7

?? acid=low pH

I wouldn't put them in with your existing fish either. In a tank that size, you might get lucky for awhile, but its not good practice. Labs like hard, alkaline (high pH) water and most of your other fish have opposite requirements. Also African and South American cichlids don't communicate well, which causes them to kill each other rather than working out a pecking order.

Whoops! That was a typing error on my part. I meant to say hard water... I'll edit my post..

Kay-Bee, even though they are aggressive, there is talk of people keeping them in tanks with other cichlids, like CA-SA cichlids.

[KenSmith87]

not a great idea IMO. But if you touch up an read - water req. food req. it might be fine. i think the PH is totally diff.