Making the switch to cichlids

Moonman, thank you for your help, this is exactly the information I was hoping someone would give me, the straight-up truth. I am much more familiar with community fish and therefore you are correct in guessing I do not know how territorial these fish can be. My most aggressive fish are my dwarf puffers, and they have their own tank. I’m not a fan of angels, but I’d be willing to rethink that if it would create a better tank environment. There are soo many beautiful fish, it’s going to be hard to decide but ultimately I think compatibility is foremost in my choice. Are angels and Apistos the only consistent working combination you have heard of?
Thanks, -Chris
 
I think rams and keyholes might work as well. It seems heyholes are more inclined to hang out higher up in the water column (like angels), and both are fairly non-aggresive unless spawning. One thing I haven't suggested is keeping a harem of apistos (A. cacatuoides will form harems and is very prolific). Get a single male and at least three females. Give them TONS of caves and watch the show. The interactions between the females and the male and those between the females will keep you glued to the tank, and MORE than make up for a lack of species diversity. Each female will guard a mini-territory. If the females spawn at the same time, you might see them "stealing each other's fry" in an attempt to lessen the chance that their fry become lunch. If a thier spawns dwindle to a certain point and they are ready to spawn again, they might "donate" their ramaing fry to another female to raise (in the hopes that a few will survive). These fish are capable of amazingly complex behavior. Trust me, they are worth planning a tank around.
 
Rowangel said:
Won’t angels get too big for my 30g?
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Precisely my thinking--haven't kept them, but have read alot as I was researching cichlids myself!! They get to a pretty good size. . .
 
Ok, well, I made a decision. I decided to hold off on the Apistos. I figured if I want to do them, and do them right, I should probably do a species tank for them. Plus I really liked mooman’s idea of doing a small grouping of them. So I will save that idea for a rainy day… ;)

I went to my fantastic lfs, Sailfin, to check out their Cichlid tanks and while I was there I got talked into a nice pair of Bolivian butterfly rams. Hadn’t planned on doing rams, but they are hardier than blue rams (or so I’m told) and quite nice looking. I am *pretty* sure I got a male and female, they are a little young to know for sure. The ‘female’ is paler in color and has a rounder anal fin, while the ‘male’ is a bit brighter with stronger black markings (especially on the front of the dorsal fin) and has a pointed anal fin. So far I like them. The stay quite close to each other and are still a little shy, hiding all yesterday. But they had no problem coming out to eat this morning and quickly got down to business checking everything out after eating. I was so fascinated watching them I almost didn’t make it to work this morning!! I also picked up a pair of juvenile marbled angelfish, very small atm, but quite striking with little red and yellow accents to the silver and black. They are doing very well.

So, atm, I have a small school of Neon Tetra and Rasbora Het., a pair of Angelfish and a pair of Bolivian Butterflies. So far I think I am happy with my choices. Maybe I will have successfully stocked my tank the right way the first time! Whoa, that would be nice! :rolleyes:
 
It's too late since you got your fish already, but just out of curiosity, what about a pair of kribs? Would that work in such a tank?
 
You'll find it a nice combo.

the angels mid to upper level and the rams lower level

as they get older, keep an eye on the rams..they don't feed as aggressively as the angels..

I have large angels in with my bolivians..I started feeding in opposit ends of the tanks..the bolivians don't like to tangle at the top with the angels for food..so by feeding in two spots some of the food slips past the angels and the rams feast on it.

btw, tetra coloribits work too. watch the rams color up..mine have pink lines on their tails with oragne and yellow showing up on their pectral fin area and they have nice blue markings on them too.

vary your foods too..they love brine shrim and frozen blood worms.
 
The frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms will not be a problem; staple food for my puffers so I have plenty. My schooling fish often get frozen Daphnia too. How often would you suggest I feed shrimp/bloodworms? The guy at my lfs said most cichlids have a vegetable matter diet, so I was planning on including a variety of blanched veggies like zucchini and cooked peas along with any pellet or flake foods I feed. My community fish LOVED both- helps clean out the bowls and prevent constipation…heh, yummy huh? I’ll pick up some tetra colorbites, see how those work and defiantly make sure the rams get enough to eat. Thanks for the advice. I really hope I got a pair, guess only time will tell but they are sticking close to each other. Even in the store those two stayed separate from the others in one corner of the tank, so fingers crossed!

Alireza - Kribs are great looking fish, African instead of SA, but I’m sure a pair could work nicely in 30g. They do seem more aggressive than the rams or angels though.
 
I'm sure the bolivians will pick at the veggies (as most fish will), but from now on I would be wary of cichlid advice from that employee. The lake malawi mbunas are the only major group of cichlids in the aquarium trade that have a primarily vegitarian diet. The fact that he made the jump to ALL cichlids preferring this shows that he has some serious knowledge gaps. ALL South American dwarf cichlids are micropredators feeding on aquatic inverts and insect larva in nature.
 
re : what cichlids

IMHO, i would say maybe 2 convicts, 1 parrot and 1 siamese fighting fish. I once had a 40gal tank back in the Philippines and in it i had 2 convicts and 2 parrots and 1 fighting fish and they were all getting along just fine. And i even had some convict fry later on which i then transfered to the 120 gal convict tank. I miss my tanks back in the Phil. Here i just have 1 10gal tank w/ tropicals. And i was also thinking of switching to small africans. Maybe just 2 small dwarfs. I love watching the territorial behavior of cichlids. Especially africans and south americans. And now that i have tropicals i am kinda bored w/ their behavior. Sure they are colorful fun too but we all have our loves. The reason i got tropicals is because i have a small tank. And i move around alot so i can only have a small tank. I once had a 10gal w/ 2 big mature convicts and when i moved i left them w/ a friend who in return forgot to feed them and they died. They lived a good 7months w/ me before i left them w/ my friend so they survived in a 10gal. But then i felt sorry for them coz they really had no space to swim around.
 
If you want something colorful and more interesting to watch for your 10g than tropics, I’d think about getting some Killies. Some of those fish are quite striking and very interesting to watch. If you like territorial behavior you could also get dwarf puffers. I have four and love my little guys. Best to go with a harem style, 1 male-several female. My male is Wasabi, and my females are Bonsai, Sake and Sushi. Yes…I know they are a little corny for names but I like people with a good sense of humor and these guys are funny to watch.

I’m surprised you’d put a Beta with cichlids…interesting combo.
 
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