CA for a 20 gallon

You could try some german blue rams or bolivian rams. They dont get big and would make a nice couple but dont mix them to many mutt fish out there.

CAs for a 20 gallon? Neetroplus nematopus (Neets) or Cons would be among the few choices for a 20 gallon.

Unfortunately, you are looking at the wrong family if you don't want to put the family dwarves in your tank...Cichlids are, on the whole, pretty darn large (comparatively speaking), and you'd be hard-pressed to find a non-dwarf (by cichlid terms) for your 20 gallon. I would suggest Googling Neets, or, even better, buying Stratton's "The Guide to Owning Central American Cichlids" and/or Conkel's "A Complete Authoritative Guide to Cichlids of North and Central America." Those will give you a good start, but I seriously doubt that they will give you any non-dwarves for a 20 gallon--that's even a little too small for a Firemouth, as I found out earlier this year, much to my dismay.

i've used a 20 long for salvini breeding for almost a year now, but when they aren't breeding their in the big tank. i would suggest rams, kribs, dwarf's (not my favorites...). There are a lot of fish you could grow out in there, such as cons, or neets, but eventually they will be cramped. especially if they're breeding.

ryan

If it makes you feel any better, I am a certifiable cichlidiot, but I've never owned one because I don't have a large enough tank quite yet. My 20 high is the largest available to me, but I wouldn't chance anything but dwarves or a short-term growing-out of an Oscar. Hang in there, Andy!

Here are possible CA's that you could get away with a non-breeding pair in a 20 gallon. (20 gallon long right??) with the normal max size and good to average avaliablity.

- herichthys centrarchus (4.5")
- herichthys sajica (3") Personal favorite. Great fish.
- herichthys spilurus (4") had these also. Nice fish.
- herotilapia multispinosa (4") rainbow cichlid
- herichthys meeki (pushing 6") firemouth
- neetroplus nematopus (pushing 6") previously mentioned neets. Could get tight if the get above 6 inches though.

The only thing that comes to mind as being a problem is that most CA's are quite large fish. At least the ones that are more avaliable to the hobbiest. Most won't fit one into a 20 let alone a pair.

The fish I have listed are all commonly found in local LFS' and are quite nice looking fish. They also all would work in your 20 gallon. The 6 inchers could get tight but you could slove that problem by getting yourself the smaller females of the species.

Hope this helps.