Which small cichlids to get?

[Rafini]

i have a 120g that's lightly planted with driftwood, rocks and moderate flow.
Temperature is currently around 23-24 degrees. A little cooler than normal.
I have a small group of glass fish, some blue panchax, a young pair of empires gudgeons.

I was interested in adding some small cichlids, I have years of experience with cichlids and I was just curious what would fit better. I'm used to keeping the aggressive bigger guys.

German blue ram
Bolivian ram
Kribensis
Or a pair of apistogramma panduro.
(The powder blue variety)
The Kribs would like the flow, but it will be at the lowest temp they tolerate.
Both species of rams and the panduro can handle down to 22 degrees however I'm worried about being unable t breed them with my relatively hard water.

What would work best?
Thanks

 

[fishorama]

That's a bit chilly for GBRs

 

[Rafini]

Yeah I thought so too but apparently their wild temp range is from 22-30.

I would like to potentially breed them but I know the Kribs would be easiest to breed and probably better suited to my tank.


The minimum temp for kribs is 24. So if I set my my tank to at least 24 that should suffice. I haven the kept dwarf cichlids before

ARe Rams worth keeping? Are they rewarding and interesting? I have always overlooked them. Can you mix color varients in a group?

 

[fishorama]

What's your GH & KH? That might help decide it. pH can matter for some species too I think.

 

[Rafini]

roughly speaking these are my local parameters.

PH 7.6 – 8.3
Hardness 175 – 255

The local conditions here are almost the same as lake malawi.

 

[Tifftastic]

Has the driftwood in the tank softened the water? Kribs are actually closer to SA cichlids in their requirements and don't really like hard water with a high pH.

If your water is like that without the driftwood, I would suggest removing it and doing a large scale shell dweller community. It would be pretty cool and they would love your water conditions.

 

[Rafini]

It's like that out of the faucet, I looked up the cities conditions online. With the wood I have I imagine it would have lowered a little.

Would shelldwellers leave plants alone?
They don't even have shells with them at the lfs. They're also a little pricy and with a 2ft tank height they might not make it up for food before my panchax and glass fish take the floating pieces.

I have seen the African butterfly cichlids available sporadically, apparently they will be happy and even breed in anything from medium soft to medium hard water.
Would they make a more suitable contestant?

Thanks

 

[Tifftastic]

I completely missed the line of other fish you had in there (its been a long week - yes I know its only Tuesday). With other fish I wouldn't do shelldwellers for sure. I think maybe the Bolivian rams if you can find some locally bred.

 

[fishorama]

We kept kribs in "limestony" water. I don't recall our params, it's been 20 years, lol. But they bred all the time for us, we couldn't give them away after a while. I know they're African riverine now, but didn't then.

What locally bred dwarf cichlids are available to you, if any?

 

[Rafini]

I'm pretty sure limestone makes water hard and alkaline.
if it was in California, I have a friend from San Diego who used to keep fish before she moved to Canada. She told me that the water params there are hard and alkaline. so probably similar to mine.

I hope to take my drivers test soon, until then I rely on transit and it is difficult to convince someone to deliver fry to your house lol.

so
Anomalochromis thomasi
Bolivians
or Kribs?

I have seen some rarer pelviachromis species available locally. but in stores far away.