# Cyno. 'white top Hara' tank mate 'no - go's'



## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

So I want to know which Malawi's I DEFINITELY CANNOT mix with my white top's to help narrow down what I can add to their tank.

The tank is a 50G tank 48x20x12, standard florescent lighting, and an Eheim 2215 on it.

I have 1 Yellow Lab in there too so I'll probably throw in some more of those as well.

I have 7 of the 'white top Hara' Cyno's in there. Not sure of the ratios of them yet (6 of them are visible in the pic).

I thought if I had a better idea of what I can't add then I will be able to narrow down my field a bit...

Here's a pic of the tank just incase it may help. (I'm going to add more rocks)


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## Mobius1230 (Sep 22, 2008)

I don't recommend anything that has similar coloring, just because the have similar colorings and interbreeding is very likely. There is also aggression between the two species instead of just their own.


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## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

I would agree with Mobius.

Avoid species that have males and females that have a similar coloration as _C_. sp. hara (like _Ps. socolofi_ for instance). This will cut down on aggression and the odds of hybridizing.


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## BurgerKing (Jul 1, 2008)

stay away from melanochromis species, very aggressive. You should definately add some yellow labs, and can look into saulosi, acei, rusties, and maybe even a few of the smaller peacocks. There are a few ps. elongatus species that have similar colors (though in different places on the body) as your cynos.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I love the way my hara's look with my Demasoni...one is pale blue with narrow black bars...the other is brilliant blue with wide black bars. Like positive and negative.


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

I don't find my Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos (maingano...like the fish in my avitar) very aggressive and I think their horizontal stripes would look good with the vertical bars of the white tops.


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

oooops :lol: you wanted to know what would *not* work, sorry. Gee, there's so many that fish that shouldn't be mixed with them. Why don't you post what you'd like and ask here to see if it would work. I'd try to stay with malawi mbuna species though.


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

I'd stay away from any of the blue+white vertical-barred zebras and Cynotilapia. Why don't you tell us what you _are_ considering adding to the tank?


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## Terrence23 (Oct 2, 2008)

Stay away from m. greshakei! I had two big male greshakei in my tank when I introduced my cyno white top group a few months ago. The greshakei soon started trying to blatantly mate with the females and fought with the male white top. Fortunately, the females weren't much interested but I didn't take any chances and gave away the greshakei. Too bad though, because the dominant male greshakei was as stunning as the pic in the profile, but nowhere near as nice as my male white top. He colored up quite nicely after the greshakei came out.

Right now, I keep demasoni, msobo deeps, albino socolofi, yellow labs and acei ngara with my white tops in a 135G and haven't noticed any problems or cross breeding between any of those species in my tank. I did make sure to get the male to female ratio as good as possible and it seems to work.

First post from long time lurker btw


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## Mr Dinks (Sep 23, 2008)

It's ironic that i was going to ask the same question. i have 3 females and 2 males on the way so was going to ask the same question. i was told that just don't have the same colour fish.
They are supposed to be big diggers so forget about a nice laid out tank. But are great breeders and parents

I was also enquiring about a cat on the bottom.


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## Mr Dinks (Sep 23, 2008)

I rather like the Red Aulonocara as tankmates for the white tops


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## walleye (Aug 20, 2007)

I had red and ob zebras( Metriaclima estherae) and got rid of them. The hara male is the tank boss. The male ob zebra wanted to take over when he got bigger and started fighting. All the zebras went after that. the hara makes a great tank boss. He controls all but doesn't bully anyone. I had a psuedo Elongatus Chailosi moving up the ranks. He ended up dead. I guess he tried to rule the roost and lost. So my hara isn't a push over either.

Steve


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Just stay away from anything that looks remotely similar to them.

I think their aggression level would be a bit too much for most peacocks, but I'm sure you noticed that I had an OB peacock and a male jacobfriebergi in the tank. That's only because they (the peacocks) were so mean that I couldn't put them anywhere else. :lol:

The big male White top is in full charge, as you saw. Those two male peacocks are fine in that tank, but there aren't many other peacocks I would consider keeping with the White tops.

You obviously want to do a little breeding, but do you really care about breeding anything other than the White tops? (This will make a difference as far as stocking goes, too.)


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

I'm not sure of what else I even like so far to be honest. These are such beautiful fish that I don't know what would be good with them.

I like the Labidochromis sp. "Mbamba" will they do alright in there? Will it be a problem with the yellow labs?

I like the demasonis too... that white line along the top of their fin is really sharp.

I'd give up the yellow lab if it meant I could keep a more colorful fish...

A whole tank of different blue's would look pretty cool..


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## Mr Dinks (Sep 23, 2008)

cichlidaholic said:


> Just stay away from anything that looks remotely similar to them.
> 
> I think their aggression level would be a bit too much for most peacocks, but I'm sure you noticed that I had an OB peacock and a male jacobfriebergi in the tank. That's only because they (the peacocks) were so mean that I couldn't put them anywhere else. :lol:
> 
> ...


Interesting?

If i where to just keep white tops to see the fun of them breeding, say....6 F to 4M with no other species would i be breeding on a constant basis and would the fry survive without a breeding tank?


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

I'm liking the Ps. flavus as well... Though I prefer the ones with a strong black coloration and a bright line on the fin..

The yellower ones look a bit messy from what I googled


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I think the Mbamba are beautiful, but I'm not sure how the Cynotilapia would cope with another blue barred fish, and the females look somewhat similar, if you overlook the yellow. I don't think it's something I would try, but I can't say for sure. (The odds of them crossbreeding with the Yellow labs would be slim if you had good male/female ratios of both groups.)

If you want the demasoni, I think they'd be okay, though. And, I believe I told you that I know where you can find some of those (F1) reasonably priced if you want to drive back down this way - although you should be able to find those a bit closer to home.

What about Iodotropheus sprengerae (Rusties)? The pics don't do them justice, if you find some nice quality ones...They are a deep rich brown with a dark purple sheen to their bodies...Not overly aggressive and they breed like rabbits.

Mr Dinks, some might survive, if you have alot of rock work and small hiding spots in the tank that the adults can't get to. If you're doing a single species tank and you have the space, I'd recommend upping your female ratio.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

You should be able to find flavus locally. The females are pretty ugly, though...


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## Mr Dinks (Sep 23, 2008)

It's not that i want to turn into some breeding only tank i actually just enjoy more life and watching them grow. It's very satisfying and as humans we can create life instead of the opposite.

it sounds a bit of a heavy statement but i hope you get my drift


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

How would Tropheops sp. â€œred cheekâ€


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Tropheops can be pretty aggressive, that's why I've never kept them in my 4 foot tanks.

I think Joea has some, why don't you pm him and see what he thinks?


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