New but already Love it!

[skibum100]

Hello i bought my first fish tank on craigslist i thought it was a medium size and soon found out i was way wrong. I have a 20 gallon tank with 4 african cichlids i think 1 electric yellow 2 blue buffalo (i think is their name) and 1 jack dempsey. It also has fake plants a pirate ship and a cluster of palm trees that kind of form a cave.

Though i am new i have realized alot in the last couple months that i have had this tank.
1 i love aquariums
2 i need to go bigger with my tank especially because i would like to have more fish
3 pirate ship decorations are not ideal, kind of hokey and especially for cichlids not most ideal
soo... i will tell you what i have been recently looking at purchasing i have been looking at a new tank around the 55 gallon range and would really like to have alot of small medium fish around 3-4' as well as shrimp, snail any real algae eater (i learned they are neccesary from having my 20 gallon) so now i am asking do you have any ideas such as tank size? transferring my current fish into it? what other types of fish would and could coexist nicely with those cichlids while also bringing some color and movement to the tank i know great danios work but i really feel they are not a pretty/colorful fish and a final question what type of decorations? i like the look of rocks and caves but cant find any at my local pet store i also like driftwood and planted look but i hear cichlids tear up plants so i thought maybe just planting my 20 gallon

thanks

 

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard

 

[DragonFish71]

Welcome to AA.


Just something to keep in mind. As those african cichlids get bigger, they will get more aggressive and will most likely kill your Jack Dempsey.

 

[skibum100]

melosu: simply spectacular tank that is beautiful and a main reason i want to go salt but since im in college and pretty much am moving my stuff to new place after every year i decided on FW...for now but great tank looks amazing!

DragonFish: though that might be true later these fish seem fairly full grown and the Dempsey is the biggest of them all he kind of bullies the rest of them...additionally that is why i wanted a bigger tank and to create like a river rock/slate wall with caves and cracks i just dont know where to start really, correct me if im wrong im think longer rectangular will be better for cichlid tank since tall (such as hectagonal tanks) seem clustered with not as much terretories for them to claim...is 55 gallons too big for a novice though and how many fish could i put in that that could coexist with my cichlids? would i be better off keeping them in the 20 and starting a new community tank? thanks for advice sorry for lengthy overload of questions

 

[mgamer20o0]

Welcome to AA.

 

[Lowryder]

Welcome to AA!

I would upgrade your tank as soon as possible. Larger tanks are far more easier to take care of than smaller ones.

 

[skibum100]

my reasoning for the 50 gallon size was simply size upgrading to a 75 or 120 would take up alot of space. But having a 50g seems to be from all your advise just to small, also what ive heard is expanding my cichlid collection i would like to probably go dwarf/african cichlids and seems to what people have said is that they might kill or bully the jack dempsey (currently he bullies them so doesnt exactly make sense to me but i trust your opinions) any advise getting 50 leave me with same unsatisfied feeling 20g has i just keep wanting to have more beautiful fish....any advise helps tank size? and realistically fish type suggestions?? thank you all for the time and suggestions!

 

[ampa one]

welcome to AA