im ready for a change

[m-man]

hey everybody ive spend most of my years with a fw tank and a the last couple of years doing a full blown planted fw tank, which i have really enjoyed, but quite frankly im tired of trimming, uprooting, replanting and cleaning up after the planted tank, and im thinking of doing an overhaul and going to a cichlid tank.

anyway, im no stranger the aquairums, but i wanted to know if there was anything specific i should know about cichlids
also what equipment do i need to change:
right now for my planted tank i have
46gal bowfront tank
96W Compact floresent
penguin 330 hob
aquaclear 30 powerhead (for circulation and co2 dispersion)
a uv filter

 

[Zagz]

What kind of cichlids do you want to go with? Africans can be quite messy, for example, and would need another filter. South american cichlids are less messy and less aggressive. So in order to know how to offer the best advice, knowing the type of cichlids is key.

 

[m-man]

well, i would probably want to go with the less aggressive less messy catagory, however i dont know what kinds are available in my area,
i guess i was thinking less messy, fairly inexpensive, less aggressive, and available
i doubt all those things come together right?

 

[Zagz]

LOL sure they do, depending on what is available by you, German blue rams, or bolivian rams are both beautiful fish. Apistogrammas. These are all smaller more peaceful, yet colorful cichlids. Not sure in your area about available or inexpensive.

 

[m-man]

actually i was thinking mbuna's but i think their aggressive, what do most people keep?
can i still keep my plecostomus? ive had him for like 6 years i would hate to give him up

 

[Big Ben]

Well theres a ton of cichlids, but you could go two different paths.
Path one:
take the african path . If you go african theres Malawi, Taganykan and Victoria cichlids. THose are the 3 big lakes and people usualy recomend keeping cichlids form the same lake. Now I'm not very experienced in the african department but there area dwarf cichlids which might suit a 46 gallon better if you want more fish. I've only kept julies (julidochromis dickfeldi a dwarf cichlids from lake taganykan) and the yellow lab (labidochromis caerulus i think, from lake malawi i think too). I enjoyed both. Africans like harder water with a high pH, some are quite aggressive although Im not that knowledgable about which ones.

Path two:
take what i like to call the non-african path. I took this path. If you take this path youll find: central americancichlids or south american cichlids and sometimes are called new world cichlids. If you want dwarf cichlids youll find the rams and apistogramma species already mentioned. Severum, convict, firemouth, oscar, red devil, jack dempsey and texas are all cihclids from this big group. These can get quite large and can be aggressive. I find in most cases in depends on the fish; you can find a really aggressive severum sometimes, even though they arent known to be really aggressive. and vice versa with a calm jack dempsey who are known to be aggressive. If you're gonna keep agressive fish from this group of cichlids i recommend getting them young at the same time and letting them grow together, this sometimes works to reduce aggression. IN my experience it has worked for me. THey can make alot of waste but these are still my favs. Rams and apistos look cool to me but they are more demanding on water quality and are less hardy.

I don't think you can go wrong with cichlids, just make sure you research the fish's temperament and recomended tankmates before hand and you should be good to go.

yes plecos can go with cichlids.

 

[m-man]

thanks Big Ben, that really helps clear some of the "fog" for me, ill have to research and make that decision

 

[squawkbert]

For either path, you must also decide if you want several dwarves or just a couple of larger ones.

At any rate, the pleco will probably be fine (until he outgrows the tank - it's a common pleco, right?).

 

[m-man]

i was thinking a max size of maybe 4", how many do you think i can keep?
also, what do you guys do for the tank backrounds? and where/what kind of rocks do you use?

 

[MyCatsDrool]

There is a 3rd and 4th path to those as well,

African river cichlids (jewels) and Haplochromines

and

Species geared specialty S. Americans (Discus OR Angels, not both together).