Cichlid Questions.

[rvijay07]

1) Why are there special pellets for Chiclids ? Can't they be fed regular tropical fish pellets ?

2) Is it true that all Cichlids will destroy plants and hence plants are to be avoided with them ?

3) I have a community tank with Danios, Otto's and Cory. Can I keep any kind of Cichlid in this ? Thanks.

Vijay

[reberly]

I can't answer your first question, I never even thought about that before.
Cichlids like to dig, they'll move gravel around all the time. If you have live plants they need to have potted roots or they'll be destroyed. Ours haven't pulled up any of the fake plants yet but I feel it's just a matter of time. Mixing cichlids with danios is somewhat dangerous if they're the longtailed breed. We once had a couple firemouth cichlids in with danios and they didn't really bother them. The danios definitely were restricted as to where they could swim though.

Ryan

[tkos]

It depends what cichlids you want. Many are great breeders and will become very aggresive in a tank which can lead to a lot of deaths of smaller fish. Any many cichlids like oscars and convicts get big and are prone to eating some smaller fish that aren't fast enough.

[Voodoo Chilli]

Although some of the Rift Lake species are vegetarians and require special consideration regarding their diet-- a lot of the 'special' cichlid pellets are simply larger versions of the regular tropical fish foods.

It's generally considered a bad idea to keep plants with cichlids because many of them will look at the plants as a food source; the ones that won't eat them will uproot them often enough that the plants will either completely wither away or linger on in an unhealthy manner.

Depending on the size of the tank, you could house some of the dwarf species in your current set-up. They don't get large, aren't too aggressive, and are one of the few types of cichlids that won't damage plants.

[lashilia]

Angels are cichlids and can be kept in community tanks. They are peaceful and do really well with cats, loaches, tetras, anabantiods, and most oddballs.

Cichilids need lots of veggies in their diet. They also take meaty foods, but veggies will bring out their color. Mine take live plants and algae wafers. They will take anything and can live off of anything. Most people feed their Oscars feeders, but an Oscar raised on plant foods will do just as well.

Africans and most South Americans need to be left with fish that hide or don't move a lot. They will dirty up their water, uproot all kinds of plants, and routinely pick out and kill weaken tankmates. Some even form 'alliances' and all are very territorial. Big cichlids can be sluggish though, so a really fast fish might do okay.

Cichlids, while filthy and mean, are very entertaining. They 'shudder', back up to the Penguin for fresh water, and 'goose' each other endlessly. Mine also sleep at night with folded-up fins in a huddle on the bottom of the tank. Be warned; cichilids breed like rabits.

Best of luck!
lashilia

[rvijay07]

All this info. was very helpful and good to know. I will revise it all again.

Vijay