Recommend me some cichlids (and other fish that could coexist) for my tank...

[JaguarCichlid52]

Hello, right now I have a tank with the following dimensions:

31.2 in. X 16.5 in. X 12 in. (l X h X w) and is roughly 27 - 30 gallons.

Currently, the only inhabitants in the tank are two black tetras that I've had for a long while now. They're fully grown at around one inch ( ), but I've decided I want to take them out sometime in the near future and replace them with a couple of pretty aggressive cichlids that will be able to coexist with other fish. So could you please give me recommendations on some cichlids and fish I should keep, as well as setup recommendations to suit all the fishies needs.

By the way, the water temperature is 78 degrees.

Thanks for any or all help.

 

[demon_surfer]

you could try a firemouth, or a couple of convicts.


some African Mbuna might work.


not a whole lot of options cichlid wise for a 30 gallon. well not if you want really aggresive ones

 

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

A couple small african malawi mbuna such as yellow labs might work, but they wouldn't get along with other community fish. You could also try tang shelldwellers.. you could get a nice colony set up but again they cannot be combined with other community fish.


You could put a pair of rams or kribs with some community fish. They like the bottom of the tank so you could add a nice schooling fish to the top layer to balance everything out. You could add these and leave the black tetras in if you wanted....

There are lots of options... just make sure nothing is too agressive if you want other fish in ith it.... and nothing that will get over 4-5"

 

[JaguarCichlid52]

Ok, so far my plan is this:

- add two kribensis cichlids and add two more black tetras
- add two ram cichlids if I can't acquire any kribensis and add two black tetras

I was also wondering, would convicts fit my criteria?

Thanks a lot for all the help.

 

[PumaWard]

I would have to say no.

The kribs will be "pretty aggressive" but not over bearing (to the point where they would kill). Convicts can be nasty little fish.

More options,

A trio of an Apistogramma specie (1m/2f).

Just make sure that you don't mix any of these dwarf cichlid species, WWIII might irrupt in your tank, along with some beat up/sick/dead fish..

HTH

 

[Jayhawk]

What are your water parameters and how lazy are you? If you're like me and lazy, you'll try to match the fish to your water. Hard water options include all Tanganyikan shell dwellers (they may only be 1-3", but they're ounce per ounce really honery!), pair of neolamprologus brichardi, pair of julies, etc.

Soft water kribs would be great, rams (I prefer bolivian rams since they're tougher, and they're OK from slightly soft to mildly hard water), Nanacara anomala (female with fry is very aggressive and males are cool metallic green), apistos, keyhole cichlids.

Eric