I've just about got my 55gal all setup. I've got all decorations(5-6 fake plants and ~40lbs stacked slate rock), rocks, gravel(UG filter), filters(penguin 350), and even a few fish in it to help with the cycling. I've decided on getting a few malawai cichlids. I've been trying to find compatible fishes and I believe I've come up with the following list: P. Acei x2, P. demasoni x4, P. saulosi x3, M. esterae x3, and L. caeruleus x3.

My main concern is an algae eater or combination cleaning crew that I could put in without putting their lil fishy lives in danger. I've had pleco's before but I'm affraid that at their max size, they will get to big and cause crowding. Can anyone give me a few cleaners that they know would work with the fishes I have listed? And if i've got a couple incompatible fishes in there please let me know.

Thanks in advance. And as soon as I can find my digital camera I'll post a pic.

Thanks again,

SpliF

I cannot recommend an algae eater because there are such varying experiences. Some have kept some algae eaters with cichlids and the algae eaters have learned to hold their own. Others have had the same algae eating species completely decimated by their cichlids. In my experience, you don't really need an algae eater with cichlids anyways. The cichlids eat algae in their natural environment and so they will munch on the algae on your rock all day long. Whatever algae builds up on the glass, I rub off with a towel. As long as your tank is setup properly and you do not have too many nutrients or are leaving your lights on for longer than 10 hours, you should be good to go.

In terms of your species, I have Acei, yellow labs (L. Caeruleus), and demasoni together in my 58 gallon tank and they do great. The acei actually like to almost school. All my other cichlids are very individualistic, but my acei have very different behavior. They swim constantly around the top of the tank and stay in a tight group. You may think of adding a few more (maybe 4) to really see this behavior. This will also help when they go to breed as the male will have more females to bother.

Many people say you must have at least 12 demasoni or they will kill each other. I, however, have kept 6 and they live just fine. You just need to keep an eye on these guys and make sure you don't get a crazy dominant male that sequentially picks off the other three.

I know yellow labs are supposed to be relatively peaceful in regards to cichlids, but I have not really found this to be the case. My dominant yellow lab male rules the tank (along with my dominant red zebra) and he is crazy about pushing others out of his territory and about chasing females. All the fish you are going to keep will get even crazier during mating. My yellow lab male goes absolutely nuts during mating times. It is crazy. He would chase his own shadow if he could. So, if you are going to keep 3, you MUST make sure you have 1 male and 2 females. Personally I would keep 4 and make it 1 male to 3 females.

I have never kept Saulosi, but I looked them up. They seem fine with the other guys, but I would be worried that the males look very similar to the demasoni. Cichlids are generally very aggressive to fish that look like them as they think they are in the same species and view them as competition. As long as both species are of the same temperament then they will each hold their own, but if one is less aggressive then he will just be killed. Just something to think about and watch as they grow.

You should also read the cichlid article I wrote in the article section of this site. It is about controlling cichlid aggression and is a good cichlid basics article. From looking at the quantity of each species you are going to keep, you may run into problem if you get the wrong male:female ratio. For instance if you pick out 2 male saulosi and 1 female saulosi, the dominant male will kill the sub male and then will kill the female from chasing her so much. With your numbers you are only going to want to have 1 male per species and the rest females. This way the male is forced to spread his chasing out to multiple females and one does not become exhausted. You can tell the difference between some of your species in terms of males and female assuming they are old enough, but others (like the demasoni) you will not. Therefore, you will have to watch them as they grow and look for aggression and mating behaviors. If you end up with 2 males in a species, send one back to the store and pick up a new fish that will hopefully be a female. I know it is a pain, but it is the only way to do it without deaths. You can also watch the tank at the fish store for quite a while and see which fish are being aggressive or dominant. This is not a 100% accurate method as sub males will act like females, but it will at least give you a better chance of picking a female.

Finally, be careful to watch the fish as they grow. Many of the species you are keeping are mildly aggressive when young, but when they reach sexual maturity, they become much more aggressive. Therefore, do not assume that since everything is working when they are 1.5" that is will be fine when they are 2.5-3".

Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions.

No problem. I absolutely love cichlids and their unique behavior. I think you will be really happy with them. Good luck.