Dwarf Cichlids in a community

[CMac]

I just moved and am going to get my 29gallon back up. Wanted to get some fish I'd never had before, and was looking at the dwarf cichlids. Would like something small but fairly colorful, and again something new. Wanted to get opinions on what I could put in with it. Was thinking of a school of neons or some other schooling tetras. Had read gouramis weren't so good with the DC, so I'm gonna scratch the dwarf gouramis. I have a betta but not sure they wouldnt be too territorial to each other, even though one is more top tank and the other mid to bottom. If I get a pair of DC, should those be considered the primary fish of the tank so to speak?

Thanks!

CM

[Coler]

I would say yes.

[Featherfin]

ive heard and read that dwarf jewel cichlids are very peaceful. look them up ander A. thomasi. Some of the turquoise variations have beautiful irridescent blue speckling all over their gill covers and heads

[Coler]

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110270

here's a thread where another member is asking a similar Q re community tank/dwarf cichlids. Some good answers on there.

[Jayhawk]

Dwarf cichlids are cool, and they have been my main interest for the past 10 years or so.

Neons usually do well with the vast majority of dwarf cichlids, and the betta will likely be fine with most dwarf cichlids as well (but bettas are as variable as cichlids in personality - so it would bear watching to see how things went).

Any Apistogramma would do fine in your tank - most are harem breeders, so 2 females to one male would be ideal. Cockatoo apistos and borelli are fairly common, and both are hardy over a wide range of pHs. The already mentioned A. thomasi is nice and peaceful. The dwarf smiling acaras (L. curviceps and L. dorsigera) are a little less obviously pretty, but they're cute and act like dwarf acaras (they're chunky little fellows who take no guff from others but are not overtly aggressive - my large dorsigera pushes around both the angelfish in my tank yet never causes any damage).

Rams are very common in stores. Blue/gold/german are all the same fish, and are less hardy than bolivian rams. I strongly recommend bolivian rams as a first ram - they're slightly bigger, less aggressive (yet will not be easily pushed around), and are very intractive with folks outside the tank.

Kribs are also common, but they're more aggressive than the other cichlids I've listed and also more on the shy side (my experience only).

Remeber - all these fish tend to look on the drab side at the LFS and only really color up well at home, but that's true of many fish.

Eric

[lucky777ca]

There is always a risk as to whether two fishes would be okay in the same tank. I would say that it depends on both fishes, the betta and the dwarf cichlid.

As for suggestions, there are a couple of dwarf cichlids that would be good in a community.
Keyholes (Aequidens maronii), German Blue Rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi), the genus of Apistogramma (eg: Apistogramma cacatuoides), Kribensis (Pelvicachromis pulcher)
From the opinions of the other people, keyholes are the most peaceful cichlid. The rams are peaceful, while the apistogramma's and the krib's aggression would depend on the individual.

A pair of cichlids would mean either a breeding pair or an incompatible pair (ie. 2M, 2F, or an incompatible M&F pair). Since the only dwarf cichlid that I have experience with is the kribs, I'll be talking about the kribs now. I'm not sure whether this would apply to any of the other cichlids named. A breeding pair of kribs would be overly aggressive towards the other tankmates. An incompatible pair could start hunting down each other until one of the two is removed or succumbs to a disease due to an injury.

IME, a single krib doesn't show as much colour as a breeding pair.

Hope this helps.

[nickxxon]

I would recommend apistos, rams, kribs, checkerboards, but in a harem. Dominate males can tear up a single female. As for mixing them, I keep chocolates, discus, angels,and geophagus with my apistos and checkerboards. Give them plenty of places to hide. The larger the group of dwarfs, the more visible they are.