thinking about a cichlid tank

Lauren

Lauren

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Aug 9, 2003
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I'm looking to buy a 75 gallon tank. Since I have hard water (ph 8 and 400ppms naturally) I was thinking about taking advantage of that and getting some cichlids, which I have always found beautiful.

only problem is, I know next to nothing about them. I know they are territorial, that they prefer hard water, and that they dig through gravel and are known to destroy plants (only reason why I'm thinking about staying away from them, I think I may want to do another planted tank).

what can you tell me about cichlids, or where can I go to find more info? I've heard that mixing kinds of cichlids can result in deadly fights. Also, how many could I have in a 75g?

thanks.
 
also, I'd prefer more, smaller cichlids than fewer, larger ones. And... is it possible to have some rams with cichlids? I assume not, since they ask for different water conditions, but wow, that would be a beautiful tank.
 
Lauren wrote:
I'd prefer more, smaller cichlids than fewer, larger ones.
Click to expand...
In that case you should have a look at some Tanganyika shell dwellers(and rock dwellers). There are some beautiful and colorful species among them. Some of them don’t get bigger as 3.5” (or stay even smaller) Here’s a link to look at some pictures.
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/abysse.aqua/pphototanganyika.htm

Jimmy
 
There are also some central american cichlids that would go well in your water. They don't get huge, around 6-8''. Probably things like firemouths and convicts.

A pair of kribs could also do well in that water, even though it's not the "prefered" water, I have read several places that they can be found in the wild in similiar conditions.

If you want to go the rift lake route, might I suggest a colony of Julidochromis regani, maybe a colony of Neolamprologus leleupi, and a colony of shell dwellers?
 
I've been looking through one of the sites linked for about a half hour now. I searched all the Malawis and was able to pick a pretty nice tank set up. But I'm leaning towards the dwarfs. I know that it defeats my purpose of getting a cichlid tank for water conditions, but since I already treat my water for one tank, it won't be too much for me to treat another. I'm thinking about rams and kribs for sure, I'm stumped on what else to add. I don't know yet. Even when I was really looking into the kribs and rams and trying to piece together what else to add, I realized I was just making another "peaceful" tank. I like the looks of the dwarfs better, but I may still do a malawis set up.

thanks for the help thus far, you guys are great.
 
There are some dwarf rift lake cichlid species, such as Julidochromis transcriptus and Julidochromis ornatus.

Here's a link to Lake Tanganyika dwarf specie articles.

http://cichlidae.com/articles/a060.html Part One

http://cichlidae.com/articles/a061.html Part Two

You can have the "best" of both worlds. Also, at least in my experience with the species I am keeping, they won't bother plants too much. You could have a planted rift. Good plants for hard water are Anacharis, Vals, some Anubias's, java moss, and Java fern.
 
Thanks Puma. I don't find the rift lake species nearly as vibrant as the malawis. if the tank is where I want it to be, there will have to be vibrant and bright fish in it, to please the rest of the house hold, the tank would also be near the front door (not too close to be stressful). I think I'm going to go to malawis. I can get a slightly larger tank that I originally thought, so stocking wont' be as much of an issue.
 
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