Newbie needs help with set-up

[Uconn25]

Hello everyone, I am brand new here and I feel very lucky to have found this great site, I am a college student who wants to get his first fish tank filled with cichlids. My girlfriend said she will buy me a 46 gallon bow front fish aquarium from Petsmart for my birthday.

My question to everyone is....can you just pick out some variations of cichlids and the amount of them I can fit in my tank ?
( I think I will be purchasing my fish from petsmart)

Also, I won't be able to upgrade to any larger size tank in the future so I dont want any cichlids that grow 12 inches long and die because lack of space, something that doesn't exceed 6 inches is what I am looking for.

Thanks once again and I appreciate your time.

 

[Deb2]

Since you are a college student I will assume you don't have alot of time to do water changes so that woul leave out my favorite, Discus. What is your water like there? Is it hard and alkaline or softer and neutral to acidic? That will help cut down on time spent and the health of the fish.

 

[Uconn25]

This is my last semester before I graduate so I definitely will have time to change the water and everything, I actually just purchased a book at amazon that I should be receiving soon "The beginners guide to aquariums" but I am hoping on this boards expertize on what kind of fish I should include in my tank...I won't be getting this fish tank for about 4 weeks, so during this time I will be reading up on just about everything. In regards to the water hardness/softness, how would I go about finding out what type of water my home has?

 

[Harry Tolen]

I've duplicated this post in the Newbie forum so that you can get maximum advice. In Cichlids you should hear about what fish will work in your tank, and in Newbie about cycling issues, etc. I have my own opinions, of course, but will wait for a few others to get in with theirs before posting. Great topic!

 

[Tightdog1]

well u could take a water sample down to ur LFS and ask them to test it, normally they will test it for free.

 

[Mad Hero]

Once you've got your pH indentified you can look up different types of ciclhids that would suit it.
For instance, most african rift lake ciichlids need a high pH of about 7.8-8.1 while the SA/CA cichlids tend to go much lower.

Keep us posted!