fish mix?

[breeze]

my tank has been set up for about a month. i have a mix of 8 tetras and some live plants. my 46 gal tank is looking empty right now. i plane on getting a cat but would like something with size. would some azureus's be ok and maybe a electric yellow. i'm trying to get color also.... please help:

[PumaWard]

Are you looking at african rift lake cichlids? Tetras and those guys really do not mix, rift lake cichlids like very hard alkaline water (8+pH, 12+gH), while tetras don't (pH below 8, can probably do up to 14 degrees hardness though). The africans will probably eat the tetras when they get older. If you like color, I would look into dwarf cichlids, some good beginner fish would be: a m/f pair of kribensis, a m/f pair of bolivian rams, a 1m/2f trio of cockatoo dwarf cichlids, or keyhole cichlids. Theres probably more but those are what come to me. You could also look into the different dwarf gourami strains and different honey gourami strains. You could also look at guppies, mollies, swordtails, or platies.

HTH

[snakeskinner]

I've been on the catfish search myself and there's not too many that wouldn't eat your tetras before long. the upside down catfish look ok and possibly rafaels from what I've seen but they seem to hide all the time. Most of the catfish all get very large and love small fish snacks like tetras. Maybe some more experienced catfish keepers have better advice. Kyle