how many cichlids can i have in a 55 gallon tank?

[thesoul2008]

2 Male peacock cichlids
1 Female peacock cichlids
5 Sucker catfish
20 Guppies
7 snails

In a 55 gallon tank do you think it would be ok to put another 2 females in there, it looks like there is plenty of room i just thought i would see what you think before i did it.

[thesoul2008]

also do you think i can put blue claw yabbies in there or red claw crayfish or is this a bad idea (sorry i am new so i dont know much)

[JoeQuality]

The crayfish will try to catch any slow or small, sleeping fish so be mindful of that

[Rbishop]

Can you post some better full side view shots of the fish....?

[thesoul2008]

they are about 10cm

[thesoul2008]

http://au.youtube.com/thesoul2008 this might give you a little better idea its a little video i made about 3 days ago

[dent20]

I wouldn't expect the guppies to last with cichlids. You can fit about 10 peacocks in a 55 gallon. I have six in a 55 along with other Africans and they're all close to full grown.

[thesoul2008]

ok thanks ill get a few more then :) cant wait now i just need to find out where i can get some females from and i will be right anyone know??? can you buy fish online??? i live in the middle of australia so everything here is very limited all we can get at the pet shop is males and if i get to many they will kill each other so if anyone knows where i can get some females PLEASE TELL ME

[dent20]

I think a lot of people keep all male tanks. I have mine in pairs because I was told the females help them color up, plus the females are pretty colorful themselves and are cheap. Do you know what kind of peacocks those are that you have?

[thesoul2008]

i think they are Aulonocara hansbaenschi i am trying to find out

[grannylvsfish]

guppy in a cichlid tank :eek: wow never thought this was possible, soon it will not b e when they make a snack of them ! Nice looking fish to :)

[thesoul2008]

my g/f got the guppies i told her the cichlids would eat them and they are WOOHOO ugly looking things (guppies)

[Lady G]

LOL, yeah I had a few guppies in my African tank (this sounds mean..but so they could make babies for the Cichlids) but anyway..they lasted a couple months then they became food:lipssealedsmilie:

Those are some really nice peacocks btw!

[jjbtexas]

females are hard to find because the breeder wants them for breeding obviously, the easier they r to breed, the easier it it to find females. u might try finding a "mom n pop" lfs and try getting to know them and they might help u. I just recently got my lfs to get me 3 or so female tiger barbs

[thesoul2008]

LOL, yeah I had a few guppies in my African tank (this sounds mean..but so they could make babies for the Cichlids) but anyway..they lasted a couple months then they became food:lipssealedsmilie:

Those are some really nice peacocks btw!

thanks yeah my guppies were doing the same thing making babies for the peacocks to eat now they have gone mental and nearly eaten the lot of them FINALLY :) I HATE GUPPIES lol have been thinking about breeding them in a separate smaller tank and using them as food :) might buy a 20g for the female peacocks when they are having babies but in between breed guppies in it maybe some goldfish and things aswell!!

[Lady G]

LOL, well...I'm not sure the gold fish would work, but you could do it with the guppies I'm sure...as long as you take them out when you put the female in the tank:)

[thesoul2008]

LOL, well...I'm not sure the gold fish would work, but you could do it with the guppies I'm sure...as long as you take them out when you put the female in the tank:)

yeah was realy just hopeing to put anything in there just so its not empty!!! any ideas i can take them out when i put the cichlids in (something friendly)

[Lady G]

Hmmm, where are you going to move them when needed? If if were me, well I have betta "problem" so I would go with a male or a few females in that 20. It just drives me crazy to see them in those little cup things they sell them in!!

I haven't really stocked a smaller tank in a while, since all my "small" tanks have bettas in them, so maybe someone else could chime in on that one. Although, you would need to have a place to rehome them.

If you are wanting to raise guppies for a live food supply to your fish though...that would be a good way to do it. Then when you need to move the guppies you could just put them in the 55 until the babies are bigger, any survivors you could just put back. (I'm sure someone will hate me for saying that LOL).

[thesoul2008]

thats pretty much what i was thinking of doing just put some guppies in there and something to clean the tank like snails of something

[Lady G]

So have you ordered your females yet?

[thesoul2008]

So have you ordered your females yet?

yeah i have ordered them hopefully be here next week.
got another tank could not help myself got another 55g :)
lol setting it up now hopefully will be finished within a week there is some pictures on my web page of the desk i am fitting up to take both tanks and the second tank i have started.

[Lady G]

Awesome, I am so excited for you!!!! I'll look at you site after a bit, you WILL post pics when you get your females right!?:grinyes::grinyes:

[Lady G]

Soul....when I click on your link it just shows me the ones that were there before....am I doing something wrong?

[Lady G]

LMAO! OK, DUH...I went to the youtube link not the one in your sig! Very cool, would really be crazy if you could custom build a tank to fit that desk, that would make for a really cool tank!

Anyway, I think it will look great once you are done!

[thesoul2008]

LMAO! OK, DUH...I went to the youtube link not the one in your sig! Very cool, would really be crazy if you could custom build a tank to fit that desk, that would make for a really cool tank!

Anyway, I think it will look great once you are done!

its not a custom built tank (i wish it was :) ) im putting 2 55G on there which takes up the WHOLE table lol should look good i have just put some more photos on there modified the desk and put the new tank on there now just waiting for pump and heater SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE YESTERDAY GRRRRRRRRR lol but oh well SOON hopefully

[Cooper17]

You have some cute fish.

[thesoul2008]

You have some cute fish.

thanks (i think so 2 :) )

[thesoul2008]

im going to have guppies and catfish in this tank i think it will look quite bare any ideas what else i can put in here that will make it look a little better but not eat the guppies?

[Brian Bivens]

30 cardinal tetras.