blueplaty15 asked:
I have a well cycled 29 gallon I want to make into a cichlid tank.It has a 30-55 gallon filter, air bubbler,3″ natural colored gravel, a bunch of rock hideouts.Anyways, I have only had 1 cichlid before, and it was my neighbors melanochromis auratus in a 10 gallon COMMUNITY tank. Well after some missing fish and research I realized I had a 4″ female who needed a way bigger tank! So I brought her to a fish store. I had her for a week & I know she wasn’t taken care of well enough. Anyways, what would be some good cichlid species to put in there. I have been doing some research &so far like the tangerine peacock, cockatoo dwarf, yellow lab, and orange chromide. My family wants a very colorful tank, with at least 6 fish. Does anyone have any recommendations on some good starter cichlids. Please write species, numbers, tank mates, and make sure they are colorful and not to aggressive.Also, I don’t want to feed it live food.
Thanks!
Any suggestions on cichlid care would be very appreciated
Btw- I want some pretty common cichlids and not to expensive, at 12 dollars at the most, 5 more preferred. Also, I know for community fish you only had a few inches of fish per week and check all the levels to make sure you have no spikes, so do you do the same with cichlids?
Thanks A bunch!!!
I have a well cycled 29 gallon I want to make into a cichlid tank.It has a 30-55 gallon filter, air bubbler,3″ natural colored gravel, a bunch of rock hideouts.Anyways, I have only had 1 cichlid before, and it was my neighbors melanochromis auratus in a 10 gallon COMMUNITY tank. Well after some missing fish and research I realized I had a 4″ female who needed a way bigger tank! So I brought her to a fish store. I had her for a week & I know she wasn’t taken care of well enough. Anyways, what would be some good cichlid species to put in there. I have been doing some research &so far like the tangerine peacock, cockatoo dwarf, yellow lab, and orange chromide. My family wants a very colorful tank, with at least 6 fish. Does anyone have any recommendations on some good starter cichlids. Please write species, numbers, tank mates, and make sure they are colorful and not to aggressive.Also, I don’t want to feed it live food.
Thanks!
Any suggestions on cichlid care would be very appreciated
Btw- I want some pretty common cichlids and not to expensive, at 12 dollars at the most, 5 more preferred. Also, I know for community fish you only had a few inches of fish per week and check all the levels to make sure you have no spikes, so do you do the same with cichlids?Thanks A bunch!!!
June 20th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Goodness! There’s a list of suggest stockings for cichlid tanks. A 29 gallon will take the same stocking as a 20 gallon long.
Click on the link below and it will give you perfect stocking numbers and types for 3 African shell dweller tanks, 4 Tanganyika communities, 2 West Africans, 5 Central Americans, 5 South Americans. Most have links where you click on the species and it will bring up a picture of the fish suggested.
June 22nd, 2008 at 4:41 am
In a 29 gallon tank you could have firemouths or yellow labs ,you could also try convicts but although they are cute they aren’t very colourful.Most Africans are probably to aggressive for your tank size.
Here are a couple of websites to help you out:
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Oh my gosh! Are you ready for this! I love questions like this! Anyway, there are so many types that you could put in your tank! My personal favorite are Kribensis cichlids. Some other good cichlids are APISTOGRAMMA species like Agassizi’s dwarf cichlids, Cockatoo cichlids, McMaster’s dwarf cichlids, Panda dwarf cichlids, and Ram cichlids. NEOLAMPROLOGUS are good cichlids too; some include Many-Banded Shell-Dwellers, and Electric Blue Johannis. Firemouth Cichlids are good too, but are best kept only with other firemouths.Flag cichlids are good too.
Lake malawi cichlids can have many different colors, and can mate and develope large, intertwined family groups. Lake malawi cichlids can be found at any place that sells fish, and are usually under “assorted cichlids”. They can grow up to 8 inches, but contrary to popular belief, they will stay smaller in a small tank. Lake malawi cichlids are best kept in a species tank with ONLY other malawi cichlids, and they are best purchased at local aquarium stores (look them up in your phone book) where you can ask them to make sure that they are malawi cichlids. The best thing about malawi cichlids is that they require no plants at all. They are best in tanks with plenty of rocks piled up. Some coloring of malawi cichlids are full blue, full yellow, full orange, or in grayish-bluish mixes. In the wal-mart fish section, under “assorted cichlids”, are malawi fish that are perfect together, and they are cheap!
I’m sorry my answer was so long. Good luck!
P.S. I sugjest starting with about 10 malawi cichlids in your tank. REMEMBER! Cichlids are naturally aggresive!
If you have questions, email me at.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
small parrot ciclhids wont bother them as long as theyre smaller. also jack dempseys are actually very timid for cichlids
June 29th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
dr’s foster & smith has a great website that ships fish to your front door. they have a great site called live aqauria dot com and they have a great collection of nicely priced american & african cichlids along with pertinent info relating to care, etc. for each species. i just bought a 3 inch purple acei cichlid from them to add to my tank and shes gorgeous …. a little bitchy to the two smaller Malawi african males i already had, but nothing serious. in my opinion every fish is different, just like people we cant rely on stereotypes….i’ve got an indian dwarf puffer in my tank and although I’m not supposed to have it with the fishes i own i figured i’d try it and everyone gets along fine. at one point i had 5 assorted african cichlids and they they all got along as well….good luck!