"Pet" Cichlid for a 50g breeder tank

[drgold]

What would be a good fish to live alone in a 50g (36"x18") tank as a pet fish? I'm looking for something attractive, not huge, personable, and ok alone. I really like Jaguar cichilds, but think that they might get too big. Same for oscars. Also, no live food requirements except for the occasional worm or shrimp treat.

This can be african or SA. Thanks for any help!

Andy

 

[losthere]

what???

with a tank like that why would you only want one fish. A fish that got large would look ok, but you dont want a big fish. Maybe you mean a fish that wont outgrow your tank. If you have a small fish in a bigger tank it is going to look bare and just wont look right. Plus would you like being locked in your room and never have anyone to communicate or interact with. I can not think of a fish that wont get big that would look ok in your tank alone. I think you should look into if you want an agressive set up or not. I would for what you are looking for you can get a red devil, flowerhorn (if you arent hard core and are ok with hybrids), for africans you can try a haplachromis (type is up to you), but i dont know of africans that wont get too big and will be fine by itself. Basically I think you need to find out want and do some reserch on those and go form there.

 

[drgold]

there are a lot of solitary fish in the world, so we can't think of them like humans being locked in a room alone. Many, many fish only see others of their kind once a year to spawn. Kept in the consistent conditions of aquaria, many fish never feel the urge to spawn.

This would be a single fish to occupy a 50g breeder tank once I have sold off all of my young bristlenose. It will be open top and I thought it would be cool to have a large fish to interact with (ie handfeed). I've had goldfish this way and thought I"d try something different. The tank doesn't have to look cool (it'll be in the office and out of sight to all but me, but it would be nice if the fish did. \

A big fish would be fine (great, really) as long as it wouldn't outgrow the tank, or grow to the point where it would not be comfortable. I think up to 10-12" would work in a tank with an 18" smallest dimension, right? I guess a pair would be ok, too, but I"d really rather have just one.


I thought that an aggressive cichlid would be the best candidate for a solo existance but maybe I"m wrong. I'm new to that sort of thing and only familliar with fancy goldfish and community fish.

 

[monkey_toes]

There are any number of South and Central American cichlids that would do quite well in a 50 gallon alone. My choices would be a Nandopsis salvini (http://www.cichlidworld.com/10-2005_gallery/salvini.jpg) or a Jack Dempsey (http://www.willegal.net/tropical_fish/jack.jpg). Jacks also come in a lovely electric blue variant (http://www.elacuarista.com/luzardo/Blue1.jpg) if you're willing to pay about $30 for one. Because New World cichlids are messy feeders, I would probably include a spotted raphael catfish (http://www.planetcatfish.com/images/full/doradidae/agamyxis/pectinifrons/1.jpg) in the tank as a scavenger. As long as the catfish is at least half the length of the cichlid, it'll be protected from aggression by its thorny armor. You will need very efficient mechanical and biological fitration, and you should expect to be doing 15-gallon water changes every week.