Advice setting up an African cichlid tank

[Kevin010382]

Hi all.
I'm thinking of setting up a cichlid tank for the very first time. I currently have a 33 gallon community tank that is quite heavily planted and stocked with a selection of native South American species. My plan is to give away my current fish to someone and start fresh with the cichlids. I'm thinking of decorating the tank with some kind of dark rock aquascape with 3mm coral sand and use marine blue/white lighting.
Could I have people's opinion on weather this is a good idea or weather you have any better ones on this subject?
It's worth mentioning that I'm fairly experienced in fish keeping. So this isn't an idea thought up on a alcohol endured christmas Holliday
Let me know what you all think.

 

[mikem691]

Is this a 33 long?
48" x 12" x 13"

 

[Kevin010382]

Not quite. It's 31x18x12. Would this be a problem?

 

[mikem691]

I don't keep Africans but I think most need 48" length. there may be some smaller ones that will work but I cant advise on that. Its kind of slow in here because of the holidays but I'm sure some one will give some advice.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

I'm in the same boat as you, still in the dreaming/planning stage of an African tank. From my research so far, the consensus seems to be that you need a minimum of 55 gallons to keep Africans long term. I would think a 48" long tank would be a must.


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[Kevin010382]

There's so many opinions out there it's difficult to make any decisions. I want to keep the Malawi cichlids which when I first started looking the advice was that for this species it was 20gallon minimum.

 

[Quest84]

There's so many opinions out there it's difficult to make any decisions. I want to keep the Malawi cichlids which when I first started looking the advice was that for this species it was 20gallon minimum.

depends on how many fish you want to keep. If you want to keep only a few then a 20 might work short term. I would look for a used 55gal to start with. Malawi Mbuna need lots of rocks to hide, these fish are aggressive. Peacocks need room to swim, Haps forget it, they get huge.