Ciclids help

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Jason6942

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jun 27, 2013
Messages
149
Hi everyone I was thinking of getting a 55 gallon glass rectangle, and putting a ciclid community in it. Any advice on decor or types of ciclids. What fish go well with them. I would love to have a small schooling fish of some sort to mix with them. What's the best filtration for them, food, as so on. Any advice or suggestions is greatly welcomed and appreciated. Thanks all
 
Depends what kind of cichilids you are wanting? Smaller ones? Or bigger ones?

You could fit one Oscar
Three Firemouths
Four Convicts
One Green Terror
One Jack Dempsey
One Electric Blue Jack Dempsey
One Blood Parrot
One Red Devil

Or you can do africans and fit quite a few in there.

The best filter for a 55 would be a canister of some sort. If that's too much, two decent size HOB's will do. Like two Aquaclear 70's. You want to give them a high quality pellet, as well as supplement some shrimp/krill/bloodworms (This applies to the american cichlids)

You could do a small school of some of the hardier and faster fishes as well with most of these.
 
CalebZachary said:
Depends what kind of cichilids you are wanting? Smaller ones? Or bigger ones?

You could fit one Oscar
Three Firemouths
Four Convicts
One Green Terror
One Jack Dempsey
One Electric Blue Jack Dempsey
One Blood Parrot
One Red Devil

Or you can do africans and fit quite a few in there.

The best filter for a 55 would be a canister of some sort. If that's too much, two decent size HOB's will do. Like two Aquaclear 70's. You want to give them a high quality pellet, as well as supplement some shrimp/krill/bloodworms (This applies to the american cichlids)

You could do a small school of some of the hardier and faster fishes as well with most of these.

You don't need a 55 gallon for an electric blue JD, their max size should be listed as 3 inches :)
 
Jason6942 said:
Hi everyone I was thinking of getting a 55 gallon glass rectangle, and putting a ciclid community in it. Any advice on decor or types of ciclids. What fish go well with them. I would love to have a small schooling fish of some sort to mix with them. What's the best filtration for them, food, as so on. Any advice or suggestions is greatly welcomed and appreciated. Thanks all

I consider a Cichlid community to be multiple cichlids, not a single with some dithers. Most of the recommendations here are the latter.

The best way to go for a "community" in a 55g is the cryptoheros genus. Lots of great options and most would be suitable with dithers and other small fish. You'd be lucky to find them locally, ordering online is the way to go.
 
You're also spending $45+ on a fish that's got about a 50% survival rate. I rather get a nice wild caught fish from Rapps, Dan/Gage or Rusty for that kind of money.

50% at best. From the people I've known that have owned them, its more like a 20% survival rate.

Biggest waste of money in the hobby IMO. I've lost $50 on them. Done and Done.
 
5x5 y'all are talking about the jack Dempsey huh, not all ciclids are like that are they
 
For a cichlid community, look into the genera:

Thorichthys
Cryptoheros
Amatitlania
Archocentrus
Cleithracara
Laetacara
Ivannacara
Apistogramma
Guinacarara
Biotodema
Nannacara
Gymnogeophagus
Mesonauta
Phterophyllum

Just to get ya started ;)
 
Blood parrot question! I have an opportunity to pick up a 2nd parrot. Right now I have a tiger oscar and parrot in a tank.. Should I do it? Do parrots tend to be happy in a pair??
 
Blood parrot question! I have an opportunity to pick up a 2nd parrot. Right now I have a tiger oscar and parrot in a tank.. Should I do it? Do parrots tend to be happy in a pair??


Your parrot looks like mine that I have had about 5 years. I added a bigger parrot from a lfs and they are fine. Every fish is different though. The bully of my tank is a red zebra cichlid. I would add some hiding spots to your tank. My big parrot likes a piece of 4" PVC pipe with fake plants around it. One day, the Oscar may need to be moved!
 
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