A showpiece fish for a 30 gal?

[ghinksmon]

Assuming you mean the African Jewel cichlid, pass on that one. Though beautiful adults are often outright nasty killing anything else in the tank, often including their mate. A friend had one alone in a 29, after it devastated his 55. They're are a nice specimen if you don't mind dedicating a tank to it.

Below is the first relevent link I could find.

http://www.timstropicals.com/Inventory/African/JewelInfo.asp

 

[Larissa]

I actually had a jewel in a community tank once. He actually didn't beat anyone up or kill them outright like many of them do. He was, however, a huge bulley who chased everyone else in the tank. I think that many of my fish died from stress because of this. I'd like to suggest a pair of angelfish, however, I'm not sure if they would be cramped in the 30g or not.

 

[stingray4540]

Stay away of the cichlids unless they are dwarfs like the rams or apistos. The other cichlids will harrass, eat, or kill a lot of your other fish, especially the jewel, there mean. The neons will be lunch for just about all the cichlids out there except for the dwarfs.

 

[SnowHeart]

There are apparently some "New World" species that can cohabitate with other fish. Can't vouch for that on the basis of long experience, but can say that my "young adult" Rainbow is doing fine in a tank with fish much smaller than he, including cardinals, a juvenile red-tail shark, clown pleco, zebra loach, etc. Regardless, temperment is definitely a concern you have to take into consideration with a Cichlid but also almost ANY fish that's going to be larger than his tankmates.

 

[Hrafnkel]

Neon tetras are going to put a damper on most of the potential new world cichlid tankmates. You might be able to get away with angelfish, you might not. Firemouths would probably eat them, I'd think.

 

[Walker Anderson]

oops, I guess in haste I screwed up

Well, I did some research online before I left work yesterday. (not enough apparently). I wanted to get in on the sale on that tank labeled "Misc Cichlids". They were 3 dollars or so. The only 2 I could definately tell where of the same breed I purchased. 2 1" long yellow thin ones with black stripes from nose to tail. Very pretty.
Finally after hunting through scientific names and all, I find out they are Auratus Cichlids. Pretty, but supposedly aggressive as all get out. So far, no problems. But I worry about the future as they start becoming the largest fish in the tank.
The tank is planted (java fern,dwarf chain sword and cabomba), 2 pieces of driftwood, sand substrate with lava rocks scattered about with some varying sizes of clay pots with lava rock glued to the with aquarium sealant.
Do you think I have any chance to keep these fish with 10 neon terta, 5 black skirt tetra and 4 bronze corys? Or should I start looking for a home for these fellows, or a new tank. I have been itching for another tank. Just gotta get finances worked out and find room for it.

 

[Sploke]

From what I've found, Auratus are lake malawi cichlids. From everything I've heard, these are best kept in large species-specific tanks. They like hard water with higher pH. You will most likely have trouble keeping them with community fish like tetras or cories. Someone with more experience will probably chime in, but thats probably not something I would try.

i'm setting up a 30 long right now, and I'm looking at getting 2 pairs of blue rams as the centerpiece, with some tetras to fill in the space.