cichlid(s) for a 55 gallon....

[silver_leaf]

Ok, ive been doing some more reading etc...and have gotten the general impression that cichlids cant co-exist with other cichlids of a different species very well...am i correct????

I am pretty sure now of what type of tank i would like to set up, I want a 'community tank'. I do know i would like some form of small cichlid-max 5 in or so, it will have a sand floor, and the tank will be a light to light-medium planted tank. I would like to be able to put some fish other than cichlids in it as well...anyone have any suggestions as to what cichlid(s) i can put in this tank...? prefferably colorful ones...like the apistogramma's?

I'm not quite sure what other type of fish will go in, probably some gouramis, or barbs...any suggestions on these too???

Any input is greatly appreciated. :cool:

Peace
Anna

[Forum221]

I think you can mix species together as long as they had caves and their own territory. One of my friends has a 20L tank that is horribly stocked but all of the fish seem fine and they dont fight. He has about 8 different cichlids that are from different lakes (Malawi and Tanganyika). And these fish should have completely different water parimeters, but for some reason it seems to work. All of his fish should be outgrowing the tank fast but his either arn't growing or are growing very slow because he has had this tank set up for about 5 months (could be because of lack of space). When the fish got too big he was planning on trading them in with the LFS for different ones (but he may not have to).By all means I am not saying that you should do something like this, but it show that different species can sometimes like together, it just depends on the fish.