Cichlids for a 20 gallon?

20gal is not enough for a pair of rams. get a 30. in a 20, chichlids are impossible. they like territory and they get annoyed when they keep having to fight over space. do a planted tank with an angel in there and a few cories.
 
Angels need at least 30 gallons.20 gallons is fine for a pair of dwarfs.Angels are cichlids,BTW.
 
Rams like about 10 square inches of floor space each for territory. Some a little more, some a little less, so a 20 will be fine for two Bolivians, Blue, or Gold Rams. Rams tend to stay to the bottom of the tank, so most people put a mid to top dwelling schooling fish in the tank with them to fill out the tank, and cory cats are always nice and rams tend to not pay them any attention. Rams like a well planted tank.
 
luckydud13 said:
I suggest mulites, they may not be the best looking fish, but when you see them in their pack like fomration, and the drama that goes on, you feel like your watching the dicovey channel. You could fit 6 in a 20. just put sand on the bottom and a hell of alot of escargo shells. Soon you will see a dominant male, but with so many laces to hide, and all that room, he wont bother the others.(unless they try to get frisky with any females) :)
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I have males squablle over territory constanty in my 55. In a 20 it would be worse. Start with 3 or 4 multies and let them breed on their own...it's very easy.

67chevelle said:
If you are going all cichlids,then it should either be one pair or hareem,or all singles.You could get a ram,a keyhole,a krib, or an apisto,and you should be fine.I would not get any more than 3 singles however.
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That's still quite a lot of cichlids for a 20. Singles will still set up a territory and a 20 doesn't have that much space.

Neervana said:
20gal is not enough for a pair of rams. get a 30. in a 20, chichlids are impossible. they like territory and they get annoyed when they keep having to fight over space. do a planted tank with an angel in there and a few cories.
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A pair of rams would work perfectly fine in a 20 gal. And that is too small for angels, not enough height for one thing...
 
lucy42083 said:
It's not that you need the dithers, it's that there is not enough territory for multiple pairs of rams or kribs in a 20 gallon tank. If you got 6 dwarf cichlids in a 20G you'd see a lot of fighting, and the weaker individuals could be bullied to death. And since that footprint really only has enough room for 1 cichlid pair (or 2 non-paired individuals), but the bioload could certainly handle more, the OP would probably want some schooling fish and corys to fill up the tank.
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But I don't think most people know the true meaning of Dither Fish! A community setup with a ram pair in a 20g is different than a ram pair with dithers! Dither fish are used to make shy fish more confortable with their surroundings, rams really wont have a problem with being shy in a 20g.
 
A 20 long would be fine for 3 singles if enough cover is given.I have a 20 long with 3 singles(cockatoo,ram,krib) as well as quite a few people in the fish club I belong to.A 20 long is 30 inches,10 iches for each dwarf is enough.
 
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