Need Cichlid Suggestions

[balasharkfreak]

Hey all,

I was wondering if Cichlids would be okay for a 30g tank but how many would I be able to keep in there? Ive also thought about a SW tank. Would either a SW or cichlid tank be approriate at 30g or is the tank too small?

I have a 55g FW with tropical community fish. Would this tank be better for either the SW or cichlids? I can move the community fish into the 25g and 30g if need be.

TIA
dan

 

[poppab02]

I don't know anything about SW other than it costs alot more money than I'm willing to spend. However, if you have the money and want to do it I know that people do have 30 g SW tanks so I do know it can be done.

I know alot more about cichlids, and really your question depends on what type of cichlids you want to have. Alot of SA cichlids like red devils, oscars, Jack Dempsey, and Texas Cichlids are too big to keep in a 55 g. However there are some small SA cichlids that would do fine in 30 g like rams, keyholes, and the apisto's. They could even be mixed with your community fish.

If you want to go with African Cichlids then you need to use the 55 g. Most africans full grown are around 5-7" and thus you can keep anywhere from about 6-8 IME in a 55 g depending on the species.

Really, you have to decide what you want to do. There are a ton of cichlids out there and it's tough to give advice until you narrow it down a little bit.

 

[balasharkfreak]

Well,

If I have a cichlid tank, Id like to have cichlids that dont grow too big. Do any of the SA or African breeds stay small, like 2"-4"?

I like the fact that most community fish dont get too big. Id like to have many fish, 10-15, in the 55g if i decide to switch it to SW or Cichlids. If I cant find cichlids or SW fish that remain small enough to have 10-15, then Ill prolly keep the 55g FW w/community fish.

Your thoughts?

 

[poppab02]

You're going to be looking at Rams, Apisto's, and Keyhole Cichlids then which are all from South America. They stay small I believe all are around 3-4" full grown. Of the 3 I believe that the Keyhole cichlids are the easiest to keep. Apisto's and Ram's can be very unforgiving if their wate quality is not perfect. All can be kept in a 30 g tank and all can be kept with peaceful community fish. Rams are best kept as a pair in a tank as they can get very aggressive to their own species during breeding. Beyond this I can tell you little but I do know that there are alot of other Ram and Keyhole cichlid keepers here with lots of good info. If I were you I would start another thread to ask questions specifically about those species.

 

[balasharkfreak]

Cichlid suggestions?

Hey all,

I was thinking of starting a cichlid tank and wanted to know what types of cichlids stay small. I have a 55g FW tank w/community fish, a 25g FW planted tank with fish and I will be purchasing a 30g this weekend.

Any suggestions to which tank would be best to use for cichlids?

As I dont want cichlids that grow too big, I was suggested that Rams, Apisto's, and Keyhole Cichlids are cichlids that grow to about 4".

Any info would be appreciated & TIA,
Dan

 

[Fruitbat]

balasharkfreak...

Any of the tanks in your list will support some of the smaller cichlids. The 30 gallon will be great! Put in some rock caves and/or driftwood and even some plants....then you're off to the races!!

Rams, Apistogrammas, and Keyholes are some good options. You could also consider the 'kribensis' or the 'nudiceps' which are African river cichlids that stay in the 'dwarf' range (about 4 inches or so). If you'd like to set up an African Rift Lake tank with small cichlids then the shell-dwelling Neolamprologus species would be a good choice!

Hope this gives you someplace to start!

 

[Menagerie]

Stay away from Mbuna cichlids--they can grow quite large and get aggressive. These fish are from Lake Malawi in Africa. Many cichlids from South America also get aggressive/too large for any of your aquariums. Included are the oscars, devils, terrors, discuss, Jack Dempseys....

Rams, Apistos and Keyholes stay under 4". There are also kribs and some Lake Tanganyika cichlids do not get too large.

Here's a wonderful link:
http://www.mongabay.com/fish/species_index
All sorts of cichilds are listed and where they come from. Look around and decide which cichlids you want to keep.
It is also helpful to find out your water's kh/gh values.

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

If your water is hard and alkaline you should look into some of the Tanganyikan shell-dwelling species.

 

[balasharkfreak]

Im looking at a PDF file for 2003 Seattle water supply. What compounds and units should I be looking at and what is considered soft, medium or hard water? This is what the 2003 PDF File says:

Well spaces wont work so the numbers will show up next to each other.

Cedar Water (CW) / Tolt Water (TW)
AVG, RANGE/ AVG, RANGE
Turbidity 0.95, 0.2-4.5/ 0.06 .02-.16
Total Organic Carbon 0.7, 0.2-1.6/ 1.6 1.3-1.9
Flouride 1.0, 0.9-1.04/ 1.0 0.6-1.2
Bromate NA, NA/ 0.6 ND to 3
Total Trihalomethanes 32, 23 to 55/ 45 22 to 72
Haloacetic Acids (5) 28, 14 to 41/ 29 19 to 40

Total Coliform Highest Month = 4.8%
Annual Average = 1.5%

Chlorine Higest Month = 0.9
Annual Average = 0-1.7

I just found this and I think its what is needed?
CW TW
Aluminum (ppb) 72, 27
Chloride 4, 3
pH range (pH units) 7.8-8.5, 8.1-8.7
Iron 27, 15
Alkalinity 22, 15
Calcium 26, 23
Hardness (as CCO3) 30, 25
Hardness (as CCO3) 1.7, 1.4
Magnesium 1.1, 0.3
Oxygen, Dissolved 2.3, 1.1
Sodium 5-20, 5-20


TIA
DAN

 

[Menagerie]

Test your own water for gh/kh. You can buy a test kit at the LFS.

 

[trent]

1 inch per 1 gal, but need to keep in mind of how big the fish will grow or if you r going to trade them in to a lfs when bigger and at what size. with that math in mind you should be fine. ive heard that a 30 gal sw would be small, but could be done with 1-2 fish ranging from small to med. a 55 gal would be great for sw.

 

[trent]

1 inch per 1 gal, but need to keep in mind of how big the fish will grow or if you r going to trade them in to a lfs when bigger and at what size. with that math in mind you should be fine. ive heard that a 30 gal sw would be small, but could be done with 1-2 fish ranging from small to med. a 55 gal would be great for sw.

 

[spence0416]

If you keep cichlids in the 30 your looking at a single pair of med sized SA cichlids. Firemouths and Convicts will breed and be a very entertaining tank. If you do go with the 55 gal you could get away with keeping a single large SA. Such as a Dempsey or Midas females would be better since they stay a little smaller than the males. Also in addition to the large cichlid you could keep a pair of mid sized as mentioned above. A lot of people disagree on this but most SA will not grow past 10 inches in an aquarium (I know some will esp. Oscars so stay away from them)

Of course if you add more than the one fish there could be some aggression but if they all start small they should tolerate each other once they grow.

I have a 10 inch Midas that is in a 55 with two pairs of Convicts no problems in over a year.

 

[chasgood]

Kribs are thought by many to be the perfect beginer cichlids. Easy to keep and small. male about 4" and the female 3 to 3.5". Had my pair for a month and have a brood of young in the tank already. They do fine in the 20 long with 6 Zebra Danios.

Good cichlid info here. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/quick_reference_list.php