Im starting a 75 gallon cichlid tank

[Fishguy1987]

I've done piranha, Oscar, red tail cat, and just about every freshwater fish in between. I have never done a pure cichlid tank though. So as my wife and I are setting up the tank, what should we know about these guys? Tank mates, food, temp, how many in a 75g tank, any other dos and donts... Thanks a lot.

 

[Aski247]

Are you thinking African or new world? I'll gladly chime in on new world as that's all I'm familiar with.

 

[Fishguy1987]

Honestly I don't know the difference. We want bright fish. We picked up a bright yellow one with black on his top fin as well as a bright solid orange one. Also got a flowerhorn cichlid. Found out the flowerhorn is vicious lol. Within five hours he killed 3 xray tetras in my 30 gallon tank where I am holding the three cichlids I purchased until the 75 is ready for them. I'm not sure what the name is of the yellow or orange and feel dumb for not knowing but the tank I got them out if at the pet store did not say... Just said medium cichlids on it.

 

[gman42]

try not to mix african and sa/ca. they dont belong with each other. i reccomend africans over sa cichlids, they in general are brighter and more lively in my oppinion.
peacocks are really nice too.

 

[Fishguy1987]

Wish I knew the difference... Lol

 

[steez]

Trewavas Red-Finned Cichlid, Red-finned Cichlid, Labeotropheus trewavasae


You can browse through a bunch of Cichlids on this site and narrow your search to the african, dwarf, peacock, malawi, etc etc.


When you see Malawi, it refers to the lake that they come from. Many different cichlids come from Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika. Species like Mbuna, peacocks, etc come from these lakes.

Rift Lakes


With your tank just make sure to start off the right way. Get a good bio-filter established before adding any fish to it and try to do some research on what species of Cichlid you add to the tank.


You mentioned that you want lots of fish with color, the best bet is to do African tank setup. Google "Mbuna Cichlids" and "Peacock Cichlids".

 

[Fishguy1987]

Thank you for the advice

 

[Spoor3773]

Honestly I don't know the difference. We want bright fish. We picked up a bright yellow one with black on his top fin as well as a bright solid orange one. Also got a flowerhorn cichlid. Found out the flowerhorn is vicious lol. Within five hours he killed 3 xray tetras in my 30 gallon tank where I am holding the three cichlids I purchased until the 75 is ready for them. I'm not sure what the name is of the yellow or orange and feel dumb for not knowing but the tank I got them out if at the pet store did not say... Just said medium cichlids on it.

Without seeing a picture I cannot be sure but the yellow fish sounds like a yellow lab ( caeruleus) and the orange may be a red zebra. These two fish are a common Malawi cichlids. If you want my opinion I would select this species for your new tank as are very brightly coloured with plenty of selection. With this species you ve got to remember there are two types, Mbuna and peacock, some people only keep one type and others like to mix like myself, further reading would be required before choosing which to keep. Here is a link of many of the popular Malawi cichlids.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/african_cichlid_genus_gallery.php
And a link to a video of my tank
YouTube
Any more questions just ask.

 

[Malawi Freak]

You may notice a slight loss in color of peacocks if there are a lot of mbuna with it. Mbuna are aggressive and sometimes/usually stress out peacocks.

 

[garfy]

You may notice a slight loss in color of peacocks if there are a lot of mbuna with it. Mbuna are aggressive and sometimes/usually stress out peacocks.

+ 1 I've seen this first hand.