Experimental studies and numerical simulations of stability of buoyancy-driven flows in a ferrocolloid for the cases of horizontal and inclined vertical orientation of a thin cylindrical cavity are performed. The influence of a homogeneous longitudinal magnetic field on convective instability and spatio-temporal patterns were also investigated. In the case of ferrocolloids the gradients of magnetic permeability may arise due to both temperature and particle concentration gradients. The particle mass flux in a classical form is summarized from the translation diffusion coefficient and the thermal diffusion ratio. However, the explanation for the observed self-oscillation regimes in magnetic fluid for the cavities of sufficiently large thickness is conditioned by the competition of density variations originating from the fluid thermal expansion and barometric sedimentation. The results prove that a uniform longitudinal magnetic field allows to control the stability and the shape of secondary convection motions at inclined orientation of layer. In a ferrocolloid the repeated transients involving localized roll convection and pure shear flow took place. Under action of uniform longitudinal magnetic field orientated perpendicular to flux velocity of shear motion on such long-wave transients can lead to complicated types of chaotic localized states or solitary vortices.