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Tabbykat9698

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jul 19, 2010
Messages
152
Location
Downtown Nashville, TN
Well I just posted this in the newbie forum but I'm gonna copy and paste.


I've had aquariums my whole life except the past 2 years (due to a divorce and move). Anyway just bought a 20 gal. I know about cycling and all, but just trying to pick out live plants and fish. I have never had a 20 gal and never had Cichlids but always wanted to have them. I have only had 10 gallon tanks (a couple at a time) and have had tetras, danios, goldfish, and frogs. I haven't read much about Cichlids in a long time, mostly because I never owned any.

My questions are: What kinds of Cichlids are good in a 20 gallon tank and how many? What kinds of live plants are good around Cichlids, or does that even matter? (I'm not putting any fake plants in, I've raised live ones before and loved them).

Any other tips would help! Like I said, I've had aquariums before but I don't have much knowledge of Cichlids.


Hey also, What happened to acquatic-hobbyist.com? I was an active member, but its been a few years, and I miss everyone and all their input!
 
What kind of cichlids are you looking into? New Worlds cichlids (Central & South America) like Rams, Angel fish, Jack Dempseys, etc? or Old Worlds (African Lakes: Victoria, Tanganyika, Malawi) such as Haps, Tanganyikans, Peacocks and Mbuna?
 
I'm really thinking Africans, will they do well in a 20 gal? I have a fantastic piece of driftwood I bought today, and going to get some rocks for hiding as well.
 
Well there's only a couple species of Africans that would work in a 20g, and they wouldn't need any driftwood since they like higher pHs. The only kinds I would recommend are a few different species of Neolamprologus such as N. multifasciatus or N. brevis. These are shell dwelling species, so you'll probably need to get some escargot shells. If you want to get into some of the large species, you'll need a 55g tank, and plenty of rocks lol. Also, do you know much about fishless cycling?
 
Ok, well that's great. Are you using a liquid test kit as well? Just wondering. Blue rams are pretty cool, however, they aren't the easiest fish to care for. Maybe you could look into Bolivian rams, which are a little easier, unless you're absolutely set on the GBRs. If you are, remember to do plenty of research. Not sure about danios, someone else will have to chime in on that.
 
rams can do well in a 20g tank, some africans can as well but not a whole bunch, if i were to suggest which to choose, i would choose bolivian rams =]
 
+1 on the Bolivian rams. I have never been able to keep blue rams no matter how I kept the tank parameters.

There are some dwarf speices of Africans but any other should be kept in a 4ft tank minimum
 
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