Can a jewel cichlid live with a red zebra cichlid and an electric yellow cichlid without problem?

Question

Two days ago I bought 1 red jewel cichlid, 1 red zebra cichlid, and 1 electirc yellow cichlid and put them in my 20 gallon tank. Everything was going fine until I noticed about a half hour ago that my zebra and my electric yellow cichlids are both swimming at the very bottom of the tank and keep moving away from the red jewel when he comes near. This just started today and I'm pretty worried. I already did research and found out that my Ph is more preferable for the red zebra and the electric yellow cichlid and my LFS said my water is perfect for African cichlids. My red jewel isn't being extremely aggressive and I know he prefers a lower Ph than what I have, but he's swimming around just fine. Should I take my red jewel back or just get my water tested again...?

Answer 1

To be honest, I'm quite surprised you have not run into issues with that Red Zebra and Yellow already.  Red Zebras are quite highly aggressive Mbuna, and the Yellow is a very peaceful type.  Combine that with only a 20 gallon footprint and I think if not now, sooner or later, you're going to run into problems.  It's a very small space.

The problem is not the PH I don't think unless you didn't acclimate it slow enough.  I think this is a matter of you just added in another cichlid in a tank that has a small footprint, and everyone's adjusting to each other.  I really do urge you to consider selling back or re-homing that Red Zebra.  Do you know by chance if you have males/females?  Males are going to make a really big issue in this tank.

I'd suggest, if you really want to keep that Zebra, could you move that tank up to like a 40 or 55?  I think you want increased footprint to support these fish.  It's not so much about the size now, but what's going to happen should these all turn out to be males.  Then size of the tank is going to compress them to where they can't avoid each other, and you will have fights on hand.  I think if you either moved the tank up, or kept just the Yellow and Jewel togeather you'll be just fine.

Answer 2

Your idea is really good. Take out the jewel for a while and see how the others react. Then take out the zebra, and put the jewel back in. Then take out the electric and put the zebra back in. The match you like best should work. Return the fish that is excluded from your choice.