Hello from Iowa

[Sprattster07]

My boyfriend and I are starting a new community 55g tank and we want to do more uncommon cichlids. We already have a tank of Labs but want a little more difficulty.

Our 55g tank set up is 2 AC110's with 2 200 watt heaters connected to a Ranco ETC for further control. We have tons of rock work set up and would prefer rock dwellers.

The cichlids we like the look of are Xystichromis phytophagus (Christmas Fulu), Astatotilapia latifasciata (Zebra Obliquiden), and Pundamilia sp. (Crimson Tide). We know the rules of nothing with the same genus name and nothing that looks to similar but we can't find out/decide if any of these will work together. If they won't, what are good cichlids to mix with them?

Any information will help, thanks!



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[Tony]

Welcome to the forum.

I'm no Vic expert, but believe that Victorian cichlids do not follow the Malawi rule of different genuses not hybridizing. To be safe, only keep one of those species. If you want to keep another Vic, go with something totally different - one of the elongated open water guys perhaps.

Again, only just started keeping breeding groups of Vics myself, so I could be wrong.

 

[Sprattster07]

Do you have any recommendations of a more open water Vic with brighter colors?


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[Tony]

These guys are cool. I was told by Greg Steves that they'd mix with some of the more commonly-available varieties without fear of hybridization.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1560

 

[Sprattster07]

Those are definitely pretty! Thanks for the suggestion, we will probably go with those.


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[turfboss]

Welcome to the forum - like Tony I am not a Vic person - but there are experts in the club who can help you make some of those decisions about compatibility and hybridization etc. - hang in there and ask questions in the Discussion and General Fish talk forums and you will got lots of inputs. Again welcome to the forum - glad to see you here.