African Cichlids Possible?

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pisces22

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Aug 1, 2004
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Hey everyone,
Im new to fishkeeping, and Im researching different fish species while my newly set up aquarium recovers from a lethal breakout of ich (killed all the fish :( which were livebearers. I was attracted to livebearers because theyre easy and would be a good beginner fish, but my dad, who has experience keeping African cichlids, mentioned them as a possibility. I was just wondering if it was possible to keep 1 or 2 of them in a 21 gallon aquarium with an aquaclear 200, gravel and plastic plants ( i understand some changes to the decor ie caves would have to be made). Are there any possibilities or should i just stick with livebearers?

Thanks
 
In my opinion Cichlids are more interesting than typical community fish.

Shell dwellers (lamprologus family) are small cichlids that wonderful to watch. Just search for it on google. Personally this is what I'd go with and I think you could have 5-6 depending on species. Some group in harems and some in pairs so do good research if you go with these.

I believe other Cichlids wouldn't be as happy in a 20 gallon. Maybe a pair from the apistogramma family (Dwarf Cichlids). Again searching this site or google will pull up some.

The best resource I found for quickly looking a species is

http://www.fishinthe.net/html/fishguide/fishguide_main.php?nt=1

Good luck and be careful... Cichlids are highly addictive fish ;)
 
with tangs u have several dwarf species choices. is this a 20 long (30")? if so here are some choices for a 20 long. knowing the demensions will help a lot. some will be ok in a standard 20 and ill mention that next to it:

Julidochromis Transcriptus, Dickfeldi, or Ornatus: 1 pair. if it is a long 20 u can get away with a trio of multi or pair of brevis along with the pair of julies.

Lamprologus Brevis: 1 pair in a standard 20 can get away with 2 pairs in a long.
Neolamprologus Multifasciatus or Similis: can put up to 6-7 in there but i suggest 3-4 to start with as they will soon grow very fast in numbers once they spawn.
Lamprologus Ocellatus: u could go 1 male and 3 females in a 20 long and a pair or trio in a standard 20.
just a few cool dwarf cichlids able to go in a 20 gal. if u want to know more about any of these fish just ask and ill help u. if u are willing to order online there r several other cool dwarf tangs available for u.
it would help if u let me know the demensions of your 21 also.
 
Thanks so much for all that info-Im researching all the names u mentioned right now, and u can expect many more questions to come lol. I meseaured my tank and here are the dimensions; 24" long, 16" tall and 14" wide and 21 gallons with an aquaclear filter 200, gravel and plastics plants ect. At the moment it is a ghost tank lol no occupents
 
Good luck on your cichlid adventure!

As mentioned, you will certainly need to be constrained to the smaller cichlids that are available.

I just wanted to mention that African cichlids especially, will not appreciate arriving to your home to an "Un-cycled" tank. Hardwater varieties especially will have a very hard time surviving the nitrogenous spikes inevitable with cycling a tank that has no bio load.

Here are some links on "fishless cycling" that may help you prep the tank for new fish. Also, if you only recently removed the previous fish in the tank, you can keep the nitrobacters alive by putting a couple drops of non-sudzing ammonia once or twice a day.

Or, simply get some filter media from another fish friend the same day you get your new fish. Resist feeding them for a couple days after you get them.

http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycling.html
http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html

Hope this helps. Good luck!
 
African Cichlids

Lol heres the story;
I set up my aquarium, added "cycle" (b4 I knew it was useless") Waste Control and AquaPlus liek the lil pamphlet said too, and let it run for 2 weeks. I then added some platys and mollies, water change, waited a week, and added some neon tetras. One week later I noticed the ich parasites-unfourtunately this was just b4 my family and I had to leave the country for 2 weeks vaccation. My fish sitter fed the fish, added the ich medication and did a water change-unfourtunately most of the neons died from the medication and by the time I came back, all the fish had died except one, which died soon after. I was so upset and found out what to do next from this wonderful forum-I raised the temp to 86F and added salt, then left it for two weeks so all the ich parasites will die off-it will be 2 weeks this friday. Right b4 I left, I noticed the water became very cloudy-a bacteria bloom. Also, my fishsitter kept feeding the sick fish, and a great deal of uneaten fish food settled to the bottom, so I believe this provided enough ammonia for the bacteria colonies to stay alive and even grow, and I guess the process was a kind of accidental fishless cycle lol.This friday I plan to do a major water change, clean gravel, rinse filter media inold water ect. Are there any other steps I should take?
 
Uh, oh.

If your tank just wiped out, and has a good plume of ich in there as well, you might choose to dry and clean the entire thing and start again using fishless cycle. It will obviously take more time, but you'll realize an aquarium is more like a garden in that the patient aquarist is well rewarded with happy healthy fish!

IMO and IME, those "Cycle" products are either useless, or plain dangerous. You should certainly invest in a test-kit, so you can closely observe the nitrogen cycle completing. Most kits don't come with a nitrAte test, but you really don't need that one until much later anyway. The Aq Pharm kits are fine.

If you do not clean and dry, you should definately continue the ich medication for the prescribed duration or use the salt technique. In any event, its useful to remember the life cycle of the ich microbe is about 30 days when spore in the gravel will resurface.

During this time, You'll need to be sure the nitrobacters are working and remain fed with drops of ammonia as mentioned in the links above.

Sounds involved, but you learned a big lesson already, and it would be a shame to quit!

Good luck!
 
African Cichlids

I orignally thought I would have to start all over again and completely clean everything, but I was assured that, because the ich parasites had no fish to feed on( apparently they will die within 24 hours with no food source when they are in one of their three stages), because I added 2 teaspoons of salt per gallon and raised the temperature to shorten life span and left it for two weeks, I would be fine. Naturally I am very nervous about the whole thing!!! Of course I will have to do a major water change to get rid of the salt and lower the ammonia which I imagine is very high, clean out remaining uneaten fish food (yes, there was THAT much on the gravel!!!)and make sure the aquarium is clean and ready for fish, but this obviously isnt the same as completely starting over.....my only comfort is that if I notice ich again I know exactly what to do......sad but true......oh I had purchased a Mardel Test Strips Kit which tested the following; Nitrates, Nitrite, Hardness, Alkalinity(buffering), and pH. And I also discontinued with Cycle ect.
THanks!
 
Hey,
Riftlake kid, and everyone else, I have some questions about the dwarf cichlids species you mentioned. I've done some research, and it seems that most dwarf cichlids are mostly bottom dwellers, and like to hideout in caves. Are there any dwarf cichlids that are mid dwellers?? Also, what materials do you use to create caves and hideouts for the cichlids?? I really like the Masked Julie (julidochromis transcriptus) and the Golden Julie, and I read that you should get 5-6 juveniles, wait to see if a pair forms, and then bring the others back to the fish store-would you reccomend this or could I just get a pair from the fishstore? Finally, could anyone give me some information on Lamprologus Brevis and Dicfieldi and "rams"-Im very new at this and I want to make sure that if I choose to go with Dwarf cichlids, I get the species that will be happiest and most comfortable in my tank

Thanks so much
 
julies wont form a pair with just any one julie. arranged pairs (just two of the opposite sex) dont usually work. its best like u said with 6 or so.
http://www.cichliddepot.com/african/brevis.html here is some info on brevis written by me :cool: one thing i left out is that its best to get one male and 2 females to form a pair and give back the third unpaired one.
most mid water tangs get too big for your set-up. also Rams dont mix with the other dwarves mentioned. different water parameters.
i make caves out of stacked slate. terra cotta pots turned over with a semi circle cut at the bottom (technically top lol :rolleyes: ) work well too.
 
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