stocking question

[kerrid]

i have 8 danios in a 20 and am upgrading to a 55 very soon :)
i wanted to try a cichlid tank, but also wanted to give my danios more room to swim and chase each other.
what would be some healthy mixes here?

thanks in advance!

[mudskippers]

Personally...... i say you have to choose... either a cichlid tank, or a community type tank with the danios... not too many possibaliteis there....

Although, you might be able to get cichlids smaller in size than your danios and they could very well be able to grow up together, at least for a little while....

I say to anyone starting a cichlid tank,..... get all your cichlids at once,.... the rest are food!! :) Once your cichlids are establised, their not going to allow any other new fish in their waters.... :)

[MbunaFishKeeper]

i guess you could keep a couple of nicaragua in there but you dont want anything to aggressive (for obvious reasons). one blood parrot could be okay if you get a few fish that you like the look of and tell me i can probably tell you if they will be ok or not.

[star_rider]

first decide which species you might like.
next find if that species that is suited to go into a tank with danios Cichlids is a very broad category..

so each species may have diffferent applications to mix in a community setting.


remember cichlids come from nearly every continent. sa cichlids have different needs than African even africans can vary considerably.. etc..etc

[jm1212]

danios are acctually great dither fish for SA/CA cichlids. convicts, firemouths, festivum, and severum can all be good choices for occupying a tank with danios (multiple cichlids). if you are willing to have only one cichlid, a Jack Dempsy will work.

[Jayhawk]

There are a ton of cichlids that would do well in a 55 with your danios...just stay away from Malawian cichlids and larger SA/CA/Tanganyikan cichlids that might conisder them dinner.

Some options include keyholes, bolivian rams, rainbow cichlids, blue rams, flag cichlids and their kin (any Laetacara), kribs, A. thomasi, apistogrammas, etc. Essentially, any dwarf SA or African riverine cichlid. All of these also do rather well in a general community tank and are not primarily piscivorous in nature. Angels might even work - they sometimes snack on skinny small fish, but not always and danios are a tad bigger than neons.

Eric

[Nolapete]

The smaller and more docile medium-sized CA/SA cichlids would work. Contrary to what jm1212 said, unless they are giant danios, a jack dempsey would (or any of the other larger CA/SA cichlids) would eat the danios sooner or later.

[kerrid]

all good points..thanks everyone!
the last thing i would want is for a new guy to eat one of my danios, i could always just keep the little guys in the 20 and do an all out cichlid tank.
since ive only had smaller fish, im unaware of what would/would not work out. but ill start research right now!
any and all opinions are welcome! (pictures are great, too!)
thanks again

[dvd_wightman]

You may be able to put a blue ram with the danios. I have ram with 3 platies in my 10 gallon and they work pretty well. But I think a tank with just cichlids would be cool too.

[aquariageek]

I have a 20 L with a festivum and 6 bloodfin tetras. He poked around at them the first night, and they began to school. Now he doesn't bother them. He just taps his nose on the feeding lid to bother me when he is hungry.

Just my $0.02...

[kerrid]

ive been looking at:
severum
german blue ram
angel

still lots of research to do, any help would be much appreciated!

[kerrid]

how would this be?
1 severum
4 angels
1 smaller pleco..possilby mango, spotted, or bristlenose.
some small dither fish. any suggestions about these?

thanks in advance!

[zachmorrow]

I agree with everyone hear, a blue ram is the way to go, or possibly think about a divider

[dbcb314]

how would this be?
1 severum
4 angels
1 smaller pleco..possilby mango, spotted, or bristlenose.
some small dither fish. any suggestions about these?

thanks in advance!
I have had severums and angels with danios and they didn't bother them at all. THe danios were too fast.

I have also had a severum with a few angels before and they pretty much left each other alone. Sevs seem to vary in temprament a lot. The big one I had was a gentle giant... the 2 big ones my brother had would stand up to a JD, FM, and Convict and ruled the tank.