Hi, I have recently purchased a 90g tank with the purpose of having 1 oscar with a few smaller tankmates. While the tank was cycling I carried out some research & found your site & it has been a great help. I started out with the oscar & 1 male convict, for me the convict was a must, but then i wanted some color & I found that a lot of people here go for severums, but I only want one big fish in my tank. Then when I was in my LFS I came across a red zebra, I was assured by the sales person that I would have no problem with my current set up & that the ph in the store was 7.5 for the africans, well he was right my convict oscar & zebra get on great, aggression of course but nothing serious. Now I am keen to add 1 other medium mbuna to finish off the stocking. It makes me wonder what all the concern is about when the stores we buy our fish from keep them in the same environment.Would like some feedback because ive got the impression nobody seems to consider it.

The majority of fish are captive bred so can adjust to different pH. I believe the Red Zebra prefers a higher pH than South American cichlids. But you say it gets an okay with your Convict Cichlid who are we to tell you that it will not work? My only concern is your tank size. Many African cichlids like lots of hiding places which means quite a bit of rock, something that will reduce the amount of water you have in your tank. Personally I don't keep Africans with South American cichlids so can't give you the benefit of my experience, but I really think you should be a little careful.

i kept electric yellows with my oscar for about 6 months... eventually the ocar ate every single one of them. dont be surprised when they start disappearing down the road. they will be snack size before you know it.

thanks for the reply but careful of what? my oscar is only 2 inches, convict 4 zebra 5 no agression so far & I cant see it happening as the oscar gets bigger. I didnt mention I have a RTS in there as well, they dont pay any attention to him. Just wondered if anyone else has had success mixing cichlids.

cheers win but yellow labs are not comparable to red zebras. Its the aggression that avoids the conflict thats how people manage to keep convicts with oscars

lol yellow labs are just as agressive as anything else, they just dont big enough, fast enough to avoid being snack size.

13" oscar vs 4.5" electric yellow, we can see who clearly won that.

ive kept convicts for years now, imo, they are more trouble than they are worth lol.

a 5" red zebra would be a fully grown specimine. might do okay, it might not. just have to wait till that oscars fully grown and find out huh?

and agression means nothing when you can just as easily be swallowed as faught LOL

since most of the store bought africans you buy at the lfs are bred in a neutral ph enviroment this will not be as much as a problem as with wild caught species.

where you might run into problems is with the dietary requirements for your malawis. most thrive on a mostly vegetarian diet while both central and south americans prosper on a protein rich diet.

having said this it does not mean your african will not survive on a high protein diet but they will be more suseptable to bloat and have a shorten life.

not to mention that it is possible for your oscars to eat them when they get big.

and on a side note the rts if you are refering to a tiger shovelnose will without a doubt eat the smaller cichlids when he get large enough

Like you said win just have to wait & see. And concerning the RTS its a labeo bicolor around 5 inches full size I think. Will it do ok? cheers necro.