Help Picking Out A Cichlid

[Goosteady]

Hi,
I am looking into purchasing a cichlid to go into a twenty gallon tank. I am looking for something with a lot of personality, and I suppose it can't have the ability to get too large. I plan on getting a larger tank though, but it wouldn't be for for about a year. Thanks for your help.

 

[kevinfishboy]

well yellow labs are very cool and have very good personality and two of them would fit in a 20g

 

[Goosteady]

Welllll...I like Yellow Labs, but I would like to weight out some more option. I wouldn't mind having something that I can feed feeder fish too also (to patronize my thirst for blood), so this would also be on the checklist of plausible fish. I like somewhat of an open tank too, so I would like to have all sand on the bottom with maybe a rock or something. Does this limit my options horribly?!?

 

[psychadelicdrea]

yes it does all your gonna hear from here is get a larger tank......a 20 gallon tank is'nt nessarly to small,makes a great tank for planting and smaller fish....thats what im in the process of doing.....i got my 55 and 125 for my large cichlids that will eat feeders......sell your 20 and get at least a 55....then you can have a oscar or jd or somthing..... :read:

 

[Emg]

Well....my vote is always for german blue rams. They are a VERY pretty fish and lots of personality. A 20 gallon is just the right size for a pair of them..male and female or two females but not two males.

Here's a pic or two...I love these fish !

Three females...

My male ram, colors fully developed....

another of my male when he was a bit younger...the same fish as in the pic above

These fish only get about 3 inches and they will eat live food..as most fish will..but it would have to be something like live worms or a very small fish fry. They're mouths are pretty small.

 

[xhibition]

Or as I famously say, a 20 gal can house a pair of lake tang rock dwellers or a pair of lake tang shell dwellers. They do stay fairly small. I agree though, a bigger tank is needed, smallest being a 40gal.

 

[Goosteady]

I would love to have something like a 55 gallon tank, but am in my final year of college and don't want to buy a tank yet until I am in a more stationary living situation. Right now I have 4 tetras and a moonlight gourami living in the 20 gallon tank and they have been great since I got them last November. I am moving into a new house on the 20th of this month however, but must be out of my current place on the 9th. So there is an 11 day period where this fishtank will either be empty and in transition, or in a garage that will probably be a hundred degrees. So I think the best thing for me to do is try and take these fish back to the local petshop and get some new ones once I am back at school in August. It is quite sad, I have gained quite an affinity for Killer, the moonlight gourami.

An oscar would be my fish of choice, but I realize that I would need a tank twice my size for one. EMG, your blue rams are beautiful, but I don't really want fish that's going to require a lot of cover or a planted tank. I had somewhat of an underwater desert theme in mind for the tank.

 

[Crabbypatty]

How long is your 20g ?

 

[Goosteady]

The tank is 23.5" long, 14" high, and 12" wide. I'm not a mathmatician, but perhaps it is smaller than 20 gallons. Now I am confused, the tank is about 15 years old and was given to me, so I have never questioned its capacity. I did the math on it and it came out to 64.43 liters, which is 17.02 gallons...so I guess I have a 17 gallon tank.