African Cichlids? Need a little insight.?

I use to have all those cichlids, and usually the more you have in a tank, the less aggressive they are. But with your bumblebee fish, it is best to keep it with other bumblebee cichlids (if male, usually other females) or with Mbuna.(Which is probably the blue fish, since they are usually sold next to eachother, or in the same tank together. Your type of fish are very aggressive and hardy, and tend to be a little territorial. But with that combination you shouldn't have to worry.

Cichlids like to play with rocks. If you watch them closely, you will eventually see all of them eat a rock and spit it out some where.

With the algae wafers, I'm having the same problem.

I now have a Tiger Oscar, and when I try to feed my Rubbernose Pleco, my oscar gets to the wafer first and eats it. So I don't think there is much you can do about that, unless you put a tank divider in the tank for the Pleco to eat.

You shouldn't have to worry though, if there is enough algae in the tank, your fish shouldn't starve.

What size tank is it? Most cichlids are messy eaters, but I don't think you have to clean the tank every 4 days.

If you need any more information, check the site below.

The African cichlids you have are from an huge African lake called Malawi.

Specifically, they're called Mbuna, which means 'rock dweller', and that is exactly what they are. In aquariums, keepers will fill up the tank with rocks to provide all sorts of caves and tunnels which the fish use constantly.

Lake Malawi is rich in minerals, but not significantly higher levels than the average tap water. Mbuna are excedingly resiliant fish and while an ideal environment would be a ph of about 8.4, anything over 7.4 will be fine. The water of Malawi is mostly only slightly hard - not like Tanganyika which is very alkaline and hard.

Because the lake of Malawi is so big, the species of mbuna range from rather mild to extremely hostile. Mismatching them in the aquarium will lead to big problems.

You got lucky though, your fish are fairly matched, both being very aggressive fish. The Bumblebee is about as large as mbuna get, so in the end he'll have a size advantage, but the Kenyi is no slouch.

If your pleco can't be fed, you really had better remove him from the tank. As it is, he lives under constant stress of these crazy fish. Mbuna are only to be kept in mbuna tanks, with certain exceptions of course.

The best way to keep types like yours is in a large, crowded tank with several females for any male.

With kenyi, the male turns yellow, while the females stay blue. With the crabro it's difficult to tell until they breed, and then the male will turn dark black. For breeding, well, with mbuna you really never know, they very well could, though the odds far favor otherwise.

First,sorry about the loss of your Oscar.

Next...sounds like your parents aren't too fish knowledgable.You don't just buy fish and come home and chuck them in the tank without knowing what they are and what they need.

Oscar/Plecs have completely different needs than the African Rift cichlids that they brought home.....safe bet the water is neither alkaline enough or hard enough for them.You also found out these guys are aggressive.

Not going to worry too much on what particular species they are...just tell you to study up on the needs of Malawi Lake cichlids.Main thing to tell you now is to stay away from high protein foods or you will discover what "Malawi Bloat" is...these guys are more vegetarian.

If you decide to keep them...and change the water to suit them...you'll have to move the Plec.And as far as breeding...if there's a female present,and the water's right...they will,and are also bad about crossbreeding in the home aquaria.

not likely. African cichlids have very specific water standards and are superb saved with different African cichlids from the comparable section. Lake Victoria cichlids, case in point, ought to in straightforward terms be saved with Lake Victoria cichlids. you in many situations could desire to apply crushed coral or Eco-finished substrate to get the pH above 8 and the water great tricky. a variety of African cichlid buffers are attainable to assist save the pH good if needed, yet with a reliable substrate it in many situations keeps to be consistent. Oscars do not do nicely in this variety of water. additionally, your Oscar could be 3 inches now yet he's going to get huge. A fifty 5 gallon would be reliable for a collectively as, yet you are going to ought to start questioning in the 70+ gallon variety long-term.