Any advice on a basic setup?
- Thread starter Big Al
- Start date
big enough for small, shell dwellers. what kind of cichlids do you want? African? South American? if African which Lake? Malawi or Tanganyika? South American cichlids have very different water parameter needs. SA cichlids usually like soft acidic water somewhere between 6.5-7.2, GH 0-10. Africans like Alkaline water 7.5-8.5 GH 7-25.
Unfortuneately all Malawis will be too large and aggressive for a 29 gallon tank, but as mentioned before i reccommend some Lake Tangynika shelldwellers. They are small, and very personable. And they live in empty snail shells! They only really inhabit the bottom of the tank though.
I would consider doing a community setup and getting a pair of rams, apistos, or kribensis. Add some peices of wood in the tank and plants and your ph should come down. With these fish you can also get some top-zone schooling fish like tetras or danios, and let the cichlids have the bottom of the tank, because they WILL take it!
-Diana
I would consider doing a community setup and getting a pair of rams, apistos, or kribensis. Add some peices of wood in the tank and plants and your ph should come down. With these fish you can also get some top-zone schooling fish like tetras or danios, and let the cichlids have the bottom of the tank, because they WILL take it!
-Diana
As an alternative to africans, a 29 gallon tank along with your water parameters would be okay for some of the smaller central american cichlids. I would think that a pair of convicts OR maybe a pair of firemouths. There are a few other choices other than these.
Big Al, consider a pair of Honduran red points and some Corydoras. Better yet how about Bolivian Rams?