Cichlid Recomendations

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richiestang_78

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Oct 27, 2003
Messages
497
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
So I have a 30 Gal tank that currently only has a Iridescent Shark (catfish) and a Plec in it. I was thinking about going with a few cichlids as they are colorful and pretty hardy to stock the tank with. I need species that isnt overly aggressive as the Iridescent Shark spooks easy and I dont want to find him with chucnks missing.

What species should I look for? The tank is acidic but I can bring it down a little if I need to as the Plec and Iridescent take water quality with stride. Anyway some recommendations would be nice. Also no live food fish as they are too much of a hassle to feed.

Oh heres the tank specs:
pH 6.8
Ammonia 0pm
NO2 0ppm
NO3 40ppm (i know its high but ive been battling nitrates in the tank for a while)
 
shell dwellers or south americans like rams. but the iridescent shark will get to big for that tank and can get up to 3 feet.
 
Yeah I was thinking about taking him to the LFS and see if they can sell him, the only problem is he is missing his left pectoral fin from swimming through a rock that was too small. Hes not all that big now, only about 3 1/2 inches and is a couple of years old.

How many cichlids could I put in a 30gal tank? I was htinking maybe 3 or 4
 
I've found electric yellows to be a nice addition to a tank (Labidochromis caeruleus). In my time with keeping them, they've never shown highly aggressive behaviors.
 
Yeah the electrics are nice but I was thinking south american since from what I understand there less aggressive. My LFS has an amazing selection of cichlids in one tank but they generally dont sell them off.
 
richiestang_78 said:
Yeah the electrics are nice but I was thinking south american since from what I understand there less aggressive. My LFS has an amazing selection of cichlids in one tank but they generally dont sell them off.
I would agree with the Ram suggestion :lol:
 
Yeah I think I will go with some rams, how many could I have of them? And also I heard something about using a peat filter with some cichlids, do I need to do this?
 
Rams can be difficult given that most german blue rams on the market are from poor breeding standards.

In some cases they just can't handle the water conditions of certain places.

For example, i can't house rams myself unless i use RO/DI water. My pH is too high as is my general and carbonate hardness in the water. That and Rams around my area aren't from particularily great breeders.

As for keeping them in your 30 gallon i would go with 6. Have lots of caves setup and a fair number of plants (most broad leaf ones). Be sure that you have 2 males and 4 females. If your LFS can't distinguish between them then go somewhere else. If you have equal or more males they will not only fight one another but they will also stress out your females to potential death.

As for peat, that will do 2 things. First of all it will tint your water to a brownish coloration. The other thing it will do is lower your pH. Driftwood will also lower pH but you need a lot of driftwood to have any effect. The tannins in the driftwood is what give it this property.

As for central american cichlids being less agressive, that is a double edged sword. While African cichlids do tend to be more agressive, there are still quite a few that are not as agressive. Yellow labs are one of the most doscile african cichlids out there. The same holds true for Daffodilli and kribs. The fact of the matter is, most african cichlids are VEGETARIAN where as most central and south american cichlids are meat eaters. What this means in the long run is, if you have territory battles, most african cichlids will fight but rarely to the death. It will be a huge fight with lots of battle scars, but there will be a territory understanding. The american cichlids will generally fight to the death and then eat thier opponant.

I have seen african cichlids in with doscile fish before, hell, i even have kuhli loaches in my my african cichlids and they are all still alive with nothing wrong with them. Though when i kept angelfish and rams (both types) they killed EVERYTHING in site or anything that came into thier territory. Infact my bolivian rams killed one angelfish I had that had a disc circumferance of 4.5" ... the ram was 1.75" in length. Then again, a breeding pair of angels that i had killed everything in my tank regardless if they thought they could or not.

Someone suggest shell dwellers, i really recommend those little guys. You can read up about the one shell dweller that i kept, Neolamprologus Ocellatus. Great fighters, great action for a lower part of the tank and they aer AWESOME parents

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/profiles/6_11_en.html

Hope that gave you a little bit of information to think about
 
Thanks so much. The water pH here is about 7. I live by Lake Erie and the water here is pretty good for Aquariums, and the only thing you need to worry about is chlorine. I will go to the LFS and see what they recommend as they have a beautiful display Cichlid tank.
 
I was thinking south american since from what I understand there less aggressive
As a group they are less aggressive than Central America or the African cichlids, but there are a few meanies in the group. Dwarf cichlids are peaceful and will do fine in a 30 gal tank. If you are looking for a new home for the shark, see if there is a local aquarium society.
 
good choice with the rams.
I wouldn't put yellow labs in a tank with a stable ph of 6.8 unless your going to stress your pleco and start messing with it.
 
Is the pleco one of the common's? If so, he will also get too big for the tank unfortunately.
 
Yup, I know he will get too large but the fish store will definently take him so Im not worried. Ive had him for almost 3 years and hes only about 8 or 9 inches.
 
No its a 30gal Long. Do Rams need alot of plant cover? I dont use live plants (as I hate plants in general) but can go out and buy some fake ones if I need too. Currently there is only few large rocks and a piece of driftwood in there that fortuantely has a nice hole in it for the fish to hide if they need to or should I add maybe some ceramic pot halfs for additional hiding spots for them? If I do add pots to the tank, is there anyway to glue/attach gravel to them so they blend more with the bottom?
 

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