what cichlid to go in the tank?

[Tom15]

I have an empty 30 gallon tank and was wondering what SA or CA cichlids could go in the tank. I was thinking maybe a jack dempsey or a severum but any other ideas are welcome. The tank is filtered with an AC 300.

Thank you

[Tinycl]

I think you would need a bigger tank for either JD or severum but I am no expert.I,myself would like some rams or apistos but cannot find them in my area.

If you are thinking of breeding,I really enjoy convicts but you need to have some place to go with all the fry as they are very prolific breeders and they can be very colorful and personable imo.


I'm sure someone with more experience will come along and give some good suggestions:) I'm just a newb and every day is a learning experience:D

Good luck.

Craig

[VoodooChild]

I believe a severum would work. The dempseys get a tad too long for them to be comfortable. Otherwise, like formerly mentioned, rams would be fine, as would apistos, probably an acara or firemouths.

[predatorcichlid]

Centeral american- convicts, firemouths, rainbow cichlids, salvini (one only), bandit cichlid, blue eyed cichlid,

South american- blue acara, flag cichlid, paraguay mouthbrooder, Golden-eye dwarf, cupid cichlid, and most all rams.

In a 30 gal. tank you will only be able to house a pair or 3/4 of the smaller more peacefull cichlids. But any of those would make good choices. The salvini cichlid is a very aggressive dwarf guapote. and only one can be housed.

[Cloud-9]

For that, my favorite would be a firemouth.

[scott]

I like the firemouth or the salvini. The salvini if you want something more aggressive.

[Tom15]

Right now I have a male convict in a 20 gallon and was thinking of moving him in the 30 gallon with a female however I tried this a while ago and he killed the female. Is there any way to prevent this aggression?

Thanks

[scott]

You could try some target fish but IMHO you need at least 55 gallons for a breeding pair of cons as the male aggression level far out weighs his size. I had one that had a blackbelt and a JD cornered in a 90.

[Tom15]

How would danios be as target fish and should the female convict be bigger or smaller than the male to possibly prevent agression?

Thanks

[scott]

Danios would work, just be prepared to replace them. My point was you will not be able to prevent the aggression, it occurs naturally, you can only spread it out through targets and larger territory. The other thing is if the fish are small you could just trade them in once they got large but two aggressive breeding six inch fish will kill each other in a thirty gallon IMHO. I might be wrong I have just read alot of posts from people who's convicts are killing each other in tanks similarly sized to yours. Like I said mine pretty much owned a ninety gallon.

Oh I would think that the larger fish would kill the smaller one irrelevant of the sex. Like I said this is just my opinion, someone with more experience could certainly prove me wrong.

[peifc]

Severum and JD will be too big for 30 gallons tank. Severum is rounded and gets as big as 8". JD gets to 10" or bigger.

I agreed with Scott that you should get a target fish or something (scott advised me to get dithers or target fish). I've an aggressive fish in 90 gallon tank (even though it is corner). He was so aggressive before I put in Danio and Gouramis. Well, my aggressive fish is slow...that's why the Gouramis are still alive :)

After I put those fish in, my aggressive fish calm down a lot. I guess to him...he has no idea who to chase...too many fish for him to deal with.