Hello everyone! This is my first post on this website and I am new to the hobby. We have had our tank for about 4 months now. I am just looking for some opinions and advice on our setup.
We have a 29 gallon coffee table tank. It has 2 Tetra Whisper 40i filters on it. The tank is artificially planted because there is no overhead light. The tank is actually lit from underneath; the light shines through translucent rocks and gravel (which is causing algae problems, but that is a whole new thread). There is a large piece of driftwood and many hiding places. We do water changes twice a week. The tank was stocked with 1 opaline gourami, 1 red tail shark, 5 tiger barbs and 6 zebra dannios.
My fiancé and I went to a local pet store just to look around. We explained our tank set-up to the attendant and she recommended that we try cichlids. She said the she had a couple in her 55- gallon community tank with giant dannios and some other fish and they co-existed just fine. I was quite skeptical, but we left the store with 1 electric yellow cichlid (2 inches long) and 1 “assorted African” cichlid (about 2.5 – 3 inches long). I have no idea what type of cichlid it is, I will try to post a picture of it later.
After adding the cichlids, I wholeheartedly expected the tank to be destroyed in the morning. However, it has been over 6 weeks since the cichlids have been added, and everything is going fine. All of the fish are visible and active. The first day we added the cichlids, the gourami was quite aggressive towards them and all the other fish as well. Now, he only chases the larger cichlid from time to time.
I just have questions about the set-up of our tank… Does anyone else have experience with cichlids in a community tank? Is the rather large number of fish curbing aggressive behavior? Could the gourami be keeping the cichlids in check? (He is the largest fish and clearly king of the tank.) Will the cichlids become more aggressive when they reach a certain size? In the back of my mind, I am still expecting a random massacre, but my fiancé thinks they will be just fine. I have read that electric yellow cichlids are among the least aggressive of its African counterparts. I do suspect that we may have to remove the larger cichlid at some point as it grows.
Thanks for your advice!
We have a 29 gallon coffee table tank. It has 2 Tetra Whisper 40i filters on it. The tank is artificially planted because there is no overhead light. The tank is actually lit from underneath; the light shines through translucent rocks and gravel (which is causing algae problems, but that is a whole new thread). There is a large piece of driftwood and many hiding places. We do water changes twice a week. The tank was stocked with 1 opaline gourami, 1 red tail shark, 5 tiger barbs and 6 zebra dannios.
My fiancé and I went to a local pet store just to look around. We explained our tank set-up to the attendant and she recommended that we try cichlids. She said the she had a couple in her 55- gallon community tank with giant dannios and some other fish and they co-existed just fine. I was quite skeptical, but we left the store with 1 electric yellow cichlid (2 inches long) and 1 “assorted African” cichlid (about 2.5 – 3 inches long). I have no idea what type of cichlid it is, I will try to post a picture of it later.
After adding the cichlids, I wholeheartedly expected the tank to be destroyed in the morning. However, it has been over 6 weeks since the cichlids have been added, and everything is going fine. All of the fish are visible and active. The first day we added the cichlids, the gourami was quite aggressive towards them and all the other fish as well. Now, he only chases the larger cichlid from time to time.
I just have questions about the set-up of our tank… Does anyone else have experience with cichlids in a community tank? Is the rather large number of fish curbing aggressive behavior? Could the gourami be keeping the cichlids in check? (He is the largest fish and clearly king of the tank.) Will the cichlids become more aggressive when they reach a certain size? In the back of my mind, I am still expecting a random massacre, but my fiancé thinks they will be just fine. I have read that electric yellow cichlids are among the least aggressive of its African counterparts. I do suspect that we may have to remove the larger cichlid at some point as it grows.
Thanks for your advice!