petricola and kribensis

Mr. Namazu · Post by **Mr. Namazu** » 23 Nov 2005, 10:39

hi everyone.
recently, i've been talking with the staff at LFS about what types of cichlids might be good tank mates for petricolas. he strongly suggested me cichlid kribensis. i purchased couple kribensis, and introduced them to my tank with petricolas. interestingly, the petricolas and kribensis seemed compatible and adjusted well than i ever imagined. although they've only been together for about a month, i've not seen any problem at all with those 2 species. now, i may be totally wrong about this (since i've only witnessed the first month of it), but if they continue to mutually live together in this pace, i definately recommend kribensis as a possible candidate for petricola tank mates. sorry for the long text, but just wanted to share my thoughts.

best,
Mr. Namazu

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 23 Nov 2005, 18:13

Mr. Namazu,

These two fish live in very different water types in the wild.

Kribs are from soft acidic waters in west Africa.

Petricolas are from east African rift lake Tanganika. The water there is very hard and alkaline.

They are both however very adaptable, and as most fish in the trade (from both species) are tank bred, then slightly alkaline medium-hard water should be fine.

I wouldn't compromise if the fish were wild however.

You may also find the fish much easier to breed if the water is more like their natural conditions.

I hope this helps.

Good luck with your fish.

toddnbecka · Post by **toddnbecka** » 30 Nov 2005, 08:42

Actually, petricola's will adjust to most water conditions, and breed if well cared for. The only worry I can see is whether the krib's will be able to defend their spawns from the catfish.