42 Gallon Hexagon

[ksfishguy]

Any advice on having Cichlid's in my 42 gallon? I have seen the Electric Yellow's at the LFS. Any advice or thoughts would be great!

 

[Thebluyak]

I have two of the electric yellow labs in a 36 bow, they do fine but make sure you have caves in your tank as they well protect their cave from other cichlids. They are fun fish to watch, fast little buggers.

 

[ryan]

what are the dimensions of your tank because cichlids should be kept in long tanks rather than high.

 

[ksfishguy]

25x22x23.5, it is taller than wide, probably better suited for a community tank, any suggestions?

 

[ryan]

well you could do angels since they need higher tanks or just do a regular community tank with very tall plants.

 

[ksfishguy]

Angels sound good. Better start planning for another long tank for cichlids...hmm...

 

[ryan]

i think a 40 gallon and up would suffiecent for them.although ive had success with a 32 its better to have a bigger tank.

 

[joannde]

Angels ARE cichlids, so you'd still have a cichlid tank
How about Angels and GBRs - a south american cichlid tank. Then you can do african's in the new long tank you're planning

 

[ksfishguy]

LOL, great advice, thanks!

 

[Menagerie]

It's a myth that angels need tall tanks; angels look nice in tall tanks, but it's not necessary. They also like room to swim, but they tend to be slower than other cichlids due to the finnage. As with any hex tank, there is less surface area for oxygen to disolve in the water, and that will limit the bioload the tank can hold.

 

[ksfishguy]

What about dwarf gouramis and rainbowfish?

 

[Menagerie]

Those would work, too. I'm not trying to discourage you from angel fish, just setting the record straight on a few things about hex tanks.

 

[toddnbecka]

Rainbows are open-water fish, better suited to a longer tank, more swimming room. Tetras or rasboras would be better, or a school of tiger barbs, though they tend to be fin-nippers, and gourami's would be tempting targets. Rosy barbs are peaceful fish, hex tanks aren't a good design for territorial species in general.
If you want to keep African cichlids, a 4' tank is a fair size for some varieties. Yellow lab's aren't very aggressive, relatively speaking. Avoid the auratus and kenyi though, they are holy terrors unless you have a much larger tank.

 

[ksfishguy]

I'm leaning towards the friendly community tank. Saving my ideas for a future cichlid tank. Time to start looking for rocks and equipment. I have a small school of rasboras now, will most likely hook them up with some other schooling fish. I do like the Rosy Barbs!