Beginner cichlid stocking

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eriamjh

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Jan 13, 2010
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Hey all, my roommates and I decided to take the plunge and get a nice big aquarium. We purchased a 75 gallon and are a bit stumped about what to put in it.

We've all had experience with the normal barbs, danios, tetras, etc. We were thinking about maybe doing a cichlid tank this time around. The only problem is that none of us has any real experience with this type of fish. We have no problem learning how to take care of them, and then actually following through with proper care and maintainence.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what cichlids we could put in the tank? We aren't looking for large fish, I guess 5 to 6 inches max, maybe more like 3 to 4 inches preferably. We would prefer to not have any angelfish due to them growing larger and just not really digging the look.

We like the look of the German Blue Rams, and it looks like they are relatively non-agressive, but then we run into the problem of conflicting information on other fish that could be compatible. It will be moderately planted and run with 2 Eheim 2213 filters. So I guess we are looking for people who have experience with this type of fish.

Any suggestions?
 
we have tried gbr's quite a few times in our 45, and they have to have the perfect water parameters in order to survive....Our 80 has African cichlids in it...the best cichlid most people suggest to start with are ladidochromis caurelus (sp.) they are very docile and are very easy to take care of....If you go with gbr's, then you would only be able to keep them with South American cichlids. Each has its own biotope of water....but African cichlids are very fun to watch and easy to take care of...but there are a lot of cichlids from both places that are very beautiful to look at...good luck with what you choose
 
Labidochromis caurelus is the scientific name and the common name is Yellow Lab...
 
mee-mee said:
Labidochromis caurelus is the scientific name and the common name is Yellow Lab...
Click to expand...

You know, the LFS we usually use had a whole tank of those and when my roommate inquired about them, the employee said that they would be quite agressive with other fish. It goes against what I've read about them online, I guess that's just another example of a mistaken employee. Usually they are pretty good about their knowledge.
 
They are only semi aggressive with their own breed, and it is a territory thing and breeding with them...they get along with all kinds of different cichlids...they just argue amongst themselves....we have our original electric yellow and she has been thru 13 batches of babies, so we decided to take the male to our lfs and she is is with one of her babies from the 13th batch...and they are doing just fine...we have had our female yellow for 3 years and have all kinds of cichlids in the 80 and she gets along with them just fine....
 
In my experience, GBRs would be fine with any community fish, especially with a 75 g. They do need good water quality, but if you're willing to keep up with water changes it wouldn't be a problem. The 75 is good for that too because the params won't fluctuate too much.
 
Ok, so if I were to go with some Yellow Labs and maybe a pair of German Blue Rams, what other fish do you guys think would work well with them?

With a cichlid tank do you typically use "cleaner" fish?
 
I wouldn't keep Yellow Labs with Blue Ram though, that's sort of a risky combination. I'd either go with an mbuna tank (using Yellow Labs, with Acei also maybe) or a community tank with some Blue Rams, not the two together. For an Mbuna tank the only fish that could be classified as a cleaner that I've seen work out most of the time are Synodontis Catfish. For the community with Blue Rams you could use any community cleaner. I wouldn't get a fish just to be a cleaner though, maintenence is better than using a fish (and nicer to the fish).
 
It is usually highly recommended that you dont keep african cichlids with south american cichlids...totally different water biotopes....GBR's are very sensitive to water, just like Michwol said 'if you are willing to keep up with water changes"...as for an african cichlid tank, water changes are usually required once a week or twice a month...we do water changes every week for our 80, and the cichlids are very healthy....except for the new flameback (he was abused by the other cichlids in his original tank at the lfs)....so you could go with either the gbr's or an african cichlid tank...good luck...
 
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