Shellies and Swordtails?

[CMcDermott]

Thinking of getting some Neolamprologus gracilis and putting them in a 75 gallon, letting the surface get covered by red root floaters and maybe have a few anubias on the rocks. Looking for a fish for the middle and top water levels, would red swordtails work with water this hard? I kept swordtails when I was a kid 50 years ago, and want to keep them again, but had fairly soft water back then and I'm not sure if swordtails can take the very hard water the shellies need.

[Patrick_G]

On 9/6/2022 at 3:36 PM, CMcDermott said:

Thinking of getting some Neolamprologus gracilis and putting them in a 75 gallon, letting the surface get covered by red root floaters and maybe have a few anubias on the rocks. Looking for a fish for the middle and top water levels, would red swordtails work with water this hard? I kept swordtails when I was a kid 50 years ago, and want to keep them again, but had fairly soft water back then and I'm not sure if swordtails can take the very hard water the shellies need.

Swordtails actually do great in hard water so you're ok in that regard. 
 

What I’d be worried about is their interactions with the cichlids. They're big, hungry, rambunctious fish that mostly stay at the top 1/3 of the tank but will happily bother the bottom dwelling fish. I absolutely love them but I currently have one batch of fry in my 75 that's approaching adulthood and I'm have a real problem with them outcompeting all the other fish for food.