jewel chilids

Question
QUESTION: are jewel chilids compatable with malawi chilids?

ANSWER: Hi Jo,

No, Malawi cichlids would be too aggressive to combine with jewel cichlids. For best results in a cichlid community, stay within the same geographic region. For example, Malawi cichlids with Malawi cichlids, Tanganyikan cichlids with Tanganyikan cichlids, etc.

You can try rams or dwarf apistogrammas with jewel cichlids, kribensis might also work. It depends greatly on what sized tank you have. If you have a 75 gallon tank, you can do big cichlids like firemouths or severums with jewel cichlids. If you have a 20 gallon tank, jewel cichlids might be all you have room for, except for middwelling fish like tetras.

I hope that helps, take care!
Nicole

P.S. For more on cichlids, check out this website:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you for your reply. A shop sold me malawi's and jewel's and said that they would be suitable ! all they want is your money I thought they were wrong.could you telll me how many malawi s I could keep in a 84 litre tank ?

Answer
Hi Jo,

84 liters (about 22 gallons) is really too small for adult Malawi cichlids. Even the smallest and mildest ones, yellow labs, would feel cramped eventually in this space. If you are planning to upgrade to a tank at least twice this size within a year, it would be fine to get two or three of these fellas, but if this is going to be your tank for good, then you really should get a different kind of cichlid.

A pair of jewel cichlids would be fine in a 20 gallon tank, or you could try a pair of kribensis instead. If your tank were a little longer with more "floor space", you could try both, which would be a beautiful and fascinating display. There are more than one variety of kribensis, for example the "Nigerian Reds" are colorful and delightful, but depending on where you live they might not be commonly available - they aren't in my neck of the woods. I would not combine the two in a 20 gallon tank (I myself was tempted to do this) because they both inhabit the lower regions of the tank, and jewels are much feistier than kribs, claiming big territories. Especially if you get a spawning pair!

So I would just stick with two jewel cichlids, hope for a mated pair...if your local fish store has a trade-in policy, then you could get four or so and wait for two to pair up.

You can also use "dither fish" (Google that term for more information) such as large tetras. Red eye tetras, diamond tetras...any of the large, fast tetras would do well here. Little fish like neons would probably be eaten or chased.

I know what you mean about the stores. Often times I wonder if they say what they do to sell things, or just because they don't know the answer, and have too much pride to just say "Sorry, I don't know." Yesterday I got a female betta to put into my 12 gallon tank. I asked if they had any others, they said *gasp* "You're not going to put them into the same tank, are you?! They're fighters!" I explained about how female bettas could actually be kept together. They seemed very skeptical of this! So in this instance, they were actually trying to discourage my purchase...

I highly recommend you use Google.com as your search tool and read as much as you can about any fish you acquire, ahead of purchase. (Especially if the store has a no returns policy on livestock.) I know the internet can have lots of contradictory information too, but at least this way you will be getting lots of information, and can sort out for yourself the good and the bad. When you ask just a single shop attendant, you are just asking one person their opinion. They ought to be experts, but they are often far from it. I was most impressed when years ago, I asked an employee at an LFS about their snakeskin gouramis, a new addition that week, and it was Friday. He said, "Hmm, I haven't read up on that species yet...try me next week." A superb answer, and I went home and did the same!

I hope that helps, take care.
Nicole

P.S. Upon re-reading your question when I was proofreading, I see that you already have the Malawis, yikes! See if you can return them, or if this isn't possible, take them to another store that does allow trade-ins. Instead of fish, you could trade them for dry goods like food.