New to Cichlids...

L

Logicaly

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Jan 12, 2010
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So as the post says, I am new to cichlids. As of yet, I have not purchased any as I feel its not responsible to take on care for any living creature that you do not know enough about. That being said, I have done some reading, but I am looking for more information, so if you could (whoever is reading this), provide me with the information, or point me to a link where I can do more reading, that would be very much appreciated.

Some background on the tank itself that I am intending to use. It is a 55 gallon tank. It has a ton of turface for the substrate, a nice brownish turface color. I have been using it most recently, as a lightly planted tank, and it has had some community fish in it. I have a Fluval 405 canister filter, so im getting excellent water flow, and great filtration. It has plenty of light, and I tend to maintain a steady temperature of about the 79-81 range.

That being said, I do have some questions. I know there are a lot of species of cichlids. What I would ultimately like to see happen with the tank, and please, tell me if I am way off base here, as like I said, my knowledge at this time is limited. A decent amount of rocks, and some driftwood as well for the hardscape of it. I would like to continue to have some real plants in there, is this possible or will I forever be cursing them for uprooting or destroying any real plants I put in? The plants would be something simple, nothing complicated like most planted tanks, just something to bring that extra bit of color and life to the scape.

Next, as I mentioned above, I do know there are a lot of species of cichlids. I have two ancestrius plecos, still at the juvenile point of their lives right now, and they will remain inside the tank as my partner has fallen in love with them some how. What I have in mind, cichlid wise, is I do not want anything that will get too large. I am thinking 5 inches max would be a nice size, am I way off base in that as I do not know how large adult cichlids tend to get? What species do you all suggest? I do like to have a little bit of variety if it is at all possible.

Speaking of variety, I do intend to have whatever fish I get, hopefully breed as I find it rather interesting to study the various breeding behaviors of fish and because I like to share my fish my local aquatic society. So is mixing whatever species are suggested to me, going to cause a conflict in their breeding? Will cichlids cross breed and is that something I should be concerned about?

I think that covers it for now. Again I would love to have any and all information that I can get so that I can better educate myself before I go forward with this project.
 
Hmm where to start

Ok this is what I gathered from the post:

55 gallon
fish no larger than 5 "
Must get along with plecos

Correct?

Well there are a lot of options. Since you want smaller cichlids that rules out most South american/cetral american cichlids. At least the big ones like your oscars, jack dempseys and such. You can still keep many dwarf cichlids! With many of the smaller species you can still have a nice community with many other fish and some plants if you wanted. Some great dwarf cichlids are German blue rams, bolivian rams, gold rams Pretty mush any species of Apistogramma (also known as apistos). These smaller species are a bit more peaceful and form pairs. As with most cichlids they have interesting parenting behavior but can be more aggressive when breeding. Since this is a 55 gallon I doubt there will be any problems.
Angel fish and discus are also cichlids and while they get a bit larger they can get along with other fish such as tetras. Though a 55 gallon is a little small for discus and they are sensitive. Angel fish would do very well in a tank that size and add a bit of elegance. Firemouths are also an option but I don't know a whole lot about them. Anyway most South Amercian cichlids/central American cichlids prefer softer water with a lower Ph.
Now we move onto African Cichlids! Now before I get into the rift lake species I would like to mention there are African riverine species you can consider. These fish act pretty similar to the SA/CA species and like similar water parameters. Jewel cichlids are in this group but be warned they will not tolerate many other fish when breeding so they may be out becuase of your plecos. The other group of species to consider is kribs,(Kribensis). They form pars and raise their young like the other fish mentioned above.
Ok so finally we reach the Rift lake african species! These are my personal favorite and the fish I know a bit more about. Rift lake species love hard water with high Ph which sets them apart from the SA/CA species. There are 3 lakes which each contain thousands of species of cichlids. Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganyika, and Lake Victoria. Now off the bat i suggest not considering species from Lake Victoria. They are pretty aggressive and can be difficult to find. Many species from the lake are also endangered. So next I will bring up Lake Malawi. Now from Malawi you have 3 main groups, Mbuna, haps, and peacocks. Mbuna are rock dwelling algae grazing fish. These guys pack a lot of color and most don't get very big at all. The downside is they are very aggressive. These aggression is controllable through overstocking and careful species selection. They may not be a good mix for your pleco, I only bring them up because wow they make a great display tank and 55 gallon is a great size.
Most haps get too large for a tank that size but they can be mixed with peacocks. The males of these group are very colorful and not quite as mean as the mbuna. They are more open water swimming species so you would have to have lower stocking levels.
Lake Tanganyika has a HUGE diversity of cichlid species. I don't even think I could go over all of the types here. They tend to be less colorful than the malawis but not quite as aggressive in most cases. You can set up a nice community of all cichlids each having different behaviors. Some of the really neat species are the shell dwellers. As the name suggests these little fish live and raise their families inside seashells. I think fish from this lake could eally be for you since you are interested in breeding. That way you'll see a lot of different breeding styles but they are all cichlids.
So take some time to google some of the stuff I mentioned and figure out which way you want to go. We can move forward from there with species :)
 
I have been into cichlids since I got into fish keeping. My favorites right now that stay small and have a good personality are probably either the Brichardis, http://www.fishchannel.com/images/article-images/cichlid-brichardi-500.jpg, which are just beautiful fish that are easily breedable. My next favorite that do not get HUGE but are a little over 5" would be the electric blue jack demsey. They are by far the most beautiful cichlid in my tank.
 
get a couple trios of different species apistogramma... you wont regret it... as long as tank is heavily planted they will do awesome... they dont bother anbody except when its egg guarding or fry watching...

awesome fish,,,
and they are smaller,,, 1.5 to 3+ inch max...
and you can put schools of tetras with them.. etc cories.. have all sorts of things going on in tank
 
angels,Blue acara,festivum, dwarf acaras,apistogramma to name SA Cichlids
 
Thanks for the starting advice everyone, so I am going to do a bit more research, but I think possibly I have narrowed it down to Mbuna, shell dwellers, brichardis, or apistos.

I know for sure that I don't want angel fish, they have never really interested me.

So, like I said, im going to research those four, and then I will be back with more questions im sure. Or if anyone has some useful links to information on any four of those species, that would be great too.
 
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