jewel cichlid in 55gal NW community tank?

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hbeth82

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
623
Location
SW Ohio
Been thinking about adding some new life to my new world / south american / misc community tank and recently saw some jewel cichlids that I really liked. I know that they are Africans and thus likely need special water parameters so I thought I'd get some feedback on whether they would be a good addition to my tank.

Parameters right now:
pH = 7.0-7.2
ammonia = 0
nitrite = 0
nitrate = stays below 20ppm
temp = 76-78

I use RO+DI water (tap water here very hard and typically has nitrates 20-40+) with Kent RO Right and baking soda to get the good stuff back.

Also in the tank are:
7 cory cats
6 black skirt tetras
4 Bolivian Rams
2 dwarf gourami
1 bn pleco

So, would jewel cichlids be okay in here or should I stick with NWs?

Thanks!
 
Jewel cichlids are really really agressive and will probably end up killing your other cichlids. I've seen them take on severums and terrors twice their size. Otherwise, the water is fine. I do not suggest adding the jewel cichlid.
 
Some reason I hadn't thought about the aggression, just the water . . . which seems kinda dumb of me since they are cichlids. How about a few kribensis? Looks like I might need to add a few more hiding spots but from what I can tell, they'd be okay.
 
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