How common are dwarfs?

ILLO

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Jan 27, 2007
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Now I'm thinking of dwarf cichlids. How common are they in the markets? there seems to be a number of nice looking ones and it seems I could put alot of them in my new 75gal.
 
there are a few dwarf cichlids..including rams, apistos and kribs. you could put a few in your tank but keep in mind many are territorial. the foot print of the tank is important in deciding how many you can place in the tank.

also your need to develop 'line of sight' cover/structure.
and the appropriate type of structue..some prefer caves.
 
Well, the tank is 48" long by 18" 'wide' by 20" high.

plan on having silk plants, some wood, and rocks.


BTW I have a Ehiem Pro II 2026 for the tank and a Filstar XP1 on the ready (filtration won't be a problem)
 
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You can keep alot in that tank.

I would personaly get about 3 pairs, so total would be 6 fish.

And set up a breeding "spots" for each of the pairs. For example, one on the far left corner, one dead in the middle, and the last one far right corner.

Then, they would end up leaving eachother alone cause they are too busy to defend their territory to even swim to the other ones by accident.

And get a school of small rainbows like madagascar or neon blues to fill up the mid and top part of the tank. Also great fish to distract the dwarfs from eachother and keep the agression level down.

I personaly would get a pair of highfin rams, gold/double red apistos, and kribs.
 
Dwarf cichlids aren't the most common to find in my area except for blue rams and kribs which tend to always be around. However, with some patience, you can find them even in big chain stores from time to time.

Personally, I'd go with 6 bolivian rams and 4 Laetacara curviceps or dorsigera. Bolivians do well in a small school (they do pair up, but the pairs are not stable), and the Laetacaras are impossible to sex when young and 4 (especially if you get the 2 largest and the 2 smallest) is likely to net you at least a pair.

Eric
 
Cool, some neat suggestions. thanks.

What about having two Festivum, 4 Laetacaras and 4 apistos along with a few little cat fish (suggestions on that too) sound? too much? Is there a better choice other than the Festivums? I kind of would like to have two larger ones in there.

Would it be better to have more Laetacaras and apistoes over the two Festivums? They all seem to come from an Amazonial area.

thanks.

 
I've found angels to be good tankmates for apistos and from what I've read the festivms have a simmilar temperatment to angels. The laetacara are very timid, and might get bullied by the apistos if enough cover is not given. Personally If I was stocking a 48 inch with dwarfs I would get one two males and as many females as i could afford
 
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