community malawis

i am often asked which are the best malawis to house together and these are my thoughts on the subject.

keeping mixed adult malawi cichlids can lead to problems with cross breeding and hyper aggression. malawi keepers are attracted by the hardiness, colour and active behavior of these fish, and as juveniles all species exhibit minimal aggression. it is as they mature that problems occur when the wrong species are mixed.
the least aggressive and least likely species to cross breed are lab careleus, cyrtacara moori, iodo. sprengerae and one of the following, ahli, protomelas, otopharanx or aulonacara. (not overly aggressive, but will crossbreed with each other). other possibles for this group are acei or salosi, but males can become a nuisance if not enough females are kept.
the next group would be acei, the smaller elongatus, estherae, the tough midgets such as afra, polit, ndumbi, demasoni mel. johanni and maybe the bigger trewavasae and cobalts. in a large enough tank ahli, protomelas etc. and the adaptable moori can be added.
the final group are not for the faint hearted and include fueliborni, petrotilapia, lombardi, the larger zebras, melanachromis and elongatus. in a large tank the big haps such as fuscos and trout cichlids can be added.
in an all male tank aggession is limited and crossbreeding is obviously not a problem, so almost any species from any group can be housed together.
the above guidelines are based on my experiences with these species and there are always exceptions that don't conform to the expected behavior norms.

thats an excellent post derek and should be of great value to any potential malawi cichlid keepers. well done.
phil

Hi Derek,
thanks for the good information.
Regards,Tim

excellent post derek, you are a veritable dictionary of fishkeeping, thanks

Great post Derek.

Isn't it odd how most people starting off with African cichlids generally end up with either an M. Auratus or a Lombardi in their tank? Two of the craziest fish out there..

i have 7 m. auratus in mine,and a lombardi,am i in trouble?

I wouldnt think so they are all tough fish, the problem would really occur if you had some of the more peaceful species in the tank with them, but watch them closely if one tries to become dominant fish you could face a bruising time in your tank, observation is the key

Brill Derek, agree with everything you say, it’s always nice to hear from somebody who knows what they are talking about, we have all made a few mistakes keeping Malawi’s................Tom.

to continue on the topic of keeping malawis and avoiding undue aggression. the two main factors are tank size and diet. in many cases fish that fight viciously and cross breed in a 4 ft tank will be calmer and breed pure in a 6 ft. esp haps.
the packed tank system of keeping mbuna definately spreads or reduces aggro but increases risk of cross breeding. i have noticed a lot of long snouted but well coloured careleus around in recent times which indicates a degree of crossbreeding or excessive inbreeding in this normally pure deep water species.
in designating species, teeth and therefore diet is a major factor so it would follow that fish with a similar diet would be more closely related and more inclined to cross.
most mbuna are herbivores and virtualy all haps are not. mbuna live near rocks and vegetation in shallow water, haps live in open deeper water with little or no vegetation. mbuna live in a packed competitive location and haps live a less competitive lifestyle and can generally avoid conflict.
there are some that dont exactly fit the patern such as the deep water micro predator mbuna,lab. careleus
and the fairly omniverous hap. dolphin moori which can live with the softies and can cope with the hardmen. these two are without doubt the most popular malawi species and have been for many years.
all adult mbuna and hap males are intolerant of males of same species or similar species but if no females are present this aggro is minimal.
all of these comments apply only to adults as juveniles are fairly easy going and will eat whatever is offered.