catfish suitable for malawi tank

[Andy]

Hi,

Are there any catfish other than S. multipunktatus that will fit in with malawi-ciclids with regards to water parameters? They don't necessarily have to be african catfish.

thanks,
Andy

[Silurus]

Other Rift Lake synos, like S. petricola, S,njassae, S. polli, should do fine. Other suitable African cats found in the Rift Lakes are Lophiobagrus and Phyllonemus.
Moving out of the continent, Rhamdia are sometimes found in hard water habitats in Central America and can make suitable tankmates. I suppose you can also try loricariids...some people have luck keeping them in a Rift Lake setup.

[Sid Guppy]

What species of cichlids do you have? some Mbuna's for example are very aggressive (Melanochromis, Pseudotropheus elongatus, P lombardoi, Metriaclima), and if you have those, better not try Phyllonemus or Synodontis njassee.

but S polli, S petricola and Lophiobagrus can cope with nasty cichlids, as long as there are hide-outs, like holey rock or something.

Loricariids in Rifttanks should be sturdy, asseryive and captive breds preferably. For obvious reasons wood-eaters should be avoided! So Panaque, Peckoltia and similar species should be avoided, as well as the more fragile Otocinclus, Sturisoma, Rhineloricaria etc. Some people keep Goldnuggets and Snowballs in a Rifttank (Parancistrus, Hypancistrus etc), but IMO it's not a good plan.

Usually Glyptopterichthys, Pterygoplichthyus and captive bred Ancistrus do fine.

If your tank is big:
Auchenoglanis occidentalis. I have one now, and he does fine in a tank full of Tropheus....!
Some riverine syno's adapt well to Riftwaters and Riftcichlids: S eupterus, S nigrita, S ocellifer, S eupterus, S angelicus, S robbianus, S afrofisheri.