South African Cichlids/Fish?

[itsmettt]

I have 2 south african cichlids. One is like a dark yellow with black stripes and one is solid orange. The dark yellow one has some bright yellow on it.
The dark yellow one chases the orange one alot. Is one male and one female? Will they breed and make eggs?
The dark yellow one is over a year old and I'm not sure the age of the orange one. I got it a couple months ago at the fish place and it was medium sized is all they say there
I have a 30 gallon tank with the two Cichlids I also have 2 blue channel cat fish and a good sized algae eater
The black and yellow one is a melanochromis auratus and the orange one is a Malawi Mbuna.

 

[JasonC]

No I don't think the two will breed at all. My aquariums have always been african cichlids and I've never personally had two different species breed together. African cichlids consist of many many different species. Only ones I got to breed were a pair of pink convicts. Even then, it's tough to get them to actually produce fish as many measures and precautions are needed to ensure the safety of the young.....even from the parent fishes. They are a very aggressive fish and in my experience, spend most of their time eating and battling each other for tank dominance. Probably why one is chasing the other, he's the dominant one atm.

 

[sharklover8]

They could be one male and one female, but I'd say the chasing is just because they are cichlids. You LFS should have told you that cichlids are very, very aggressive and territorial fish. They will kill each other if they don't have enough space in the tank to establish their own territories. Chances of fish that are the same type of breeding is very little, it's the same with us, would you breed with a dog?
Cichlids also need to be housed in tanks greater then 55 gallons for about 2 of them on their own as they grow to be very large fish. I wouldn't house cichlids that are moderately to very aggressive with catfish either as catfish aren't aggressive enough or fast moving enough so they could get attacked and eaten. Your cichlids are more the very aggressive type. All your fish together should be in a tank size of 100 gallons plus. They may not be big now, but they will get big. If you leave them in this tank size them it will stunt their potential growth and cause them to die. This isn't your fault though, your LFS should have informed you when buying the cichlids and the catfish.