[burr740]

I wouldnt say the information out there is inaccurate, or that they get a bad rap. They are aggressive by nature and keeping them together is an art. Mulit-species tanks can be quite a challenge, so can a single species for that matter. One of the biggest problems I think is a lot of people decide they want cichlids and just go out and buy a bunch of the prettiest colors. Then one or two gets beat to death they go out and by a couple more. Rinse and repeat.

Given the right environment they can be extremely rewarding. One of the key ingredients is to have TONS of cover and hidey-holes. Rich's tank is a perfect example. Ive had a breeding pair of Brichardi and a breeding pair of Julie in the same 75 gallon tank with half a dozen other cichlids before.

 

[burr740]

I agree..
Am also impressed with your keeping spawning brichardi and other fishes in same tank.
I too have bred the Brichardi and have seen them send much larger cichlid's to upper corner's of the tank when protecting fry.
Hell,the whole family of brichardi once fry get some size,,will protect other younger family /fry from all interloper's no matter their size or temperment.

It's true. The Brichardi had their bed on one side of the tank, and Julie's on the other (48" 75 Gal). I siphoned/netted all the fry from those two within a couple days of hatching. At the time I had several grow out tanks for offspring in different stages of maturity. I was supplying two stores and a handful of individuals with juvies. Removing the fry so quickly made them spawn again almost immediately. There was a new batch of each literally every 10-12 weeks.

The other cichlids I had in the tank were also Tanganyikan - a Lelupi, a five bar Frontosa, which was by far the biggest fish, couple of shell dwelling Brevis, a Compressiceps, and some kind of Tropheus with a blue face.

That particular tank will always be one of my all time favorite set-ups, had it for about 5 years during the early 2000s.