south/central american cichlids in a 55

[dax29]

I'm thinking of breaking down one of my 29 gallon tanks and going with a 55. I'm gonna use all the filters and stuff from my 29 so the 55 will still be getting 550 gph filtration, which should be adequate.

Now what type of non-dwarf south/central american cichlids can be kept in a 55 gallon tank together?

I'm planning on loading the tank with driftwood and such so as to lower the pH some. My water is kinda hard.

In another thread I'm going with dwarf cichlids in a 29 gallon.

My 10 gallon will house some rams.

I think I'm coming down with MTS! And I like it!

 

[severum mama]

One of my 55 gallon tanks houses my severum, firemouth, and female convict. I also have a school of tiger barbs for dithers, and a flying fox and sailfin pleco. I used 70 pounds of rocks, a large clay pot, and a piece of driftwood for hiding places, and there are minimal aggression issues.

And yes, I know the sailfin will need a bigger tank. It will give me the perfect excuse to splurge on that 75 gallon I've been wanting when the time comes.

 

[dax29]

Gosh! How many 55s do you have? I want a severum, a firemouth or 2, and maybe salvini. I may throw in a blue acara. That puts me at 35" of fish but they probably need the room.

Are these too many new world cichlids for a 55 gallon? Will they work together? I see you have a convict in there so the salvini should work, right.

 

[severum mama]

Gosh! How many 55s do you have?

I have one 55 at home, and 2 at work, one with fish and one with turtles. I also have a 5 hex, a 20 high, a 30 long, and another 30 long that I will be setting up soon, plus the 10 and the 27 hex in storage. And yes, I am obsessed. And no, there is no cure for MTS.

I probably wouldn't keep 2 firemouths in there. It seems like there would be trouble if they spawned. The blue acara would probably be fine. I don't know anything about the salvini, so I can't advise you there. If it were my tank, I would get the sev, FM, and BA, along with some dithers and maybe a pleco. You may have problems if you try to keep too many cichlids together.

 

[dax29]

Nice! Thanks sev mama!

 

[cichlidmaniac]

As long as you have enough hiding spaces u can have alot of cichlids because i have a 30 gallon tank now and it has a flowerhorn,jaguar cichlid,jack dempsy,firemouth, and a florida gar (all babies) im getting a 50 gallon tank off craigslist only because they have simply grown up but i have had minimal aggression with all of them but the real key is buying them as babies and having them grow up together so i would guess u could probably fit 5 fish in their comfortably but i would suggest getting babies

 

[jetajockey]

As long as you have enough hiding spaces u can have alot of cichlids because i have a 30 gallon tank now and it has a flowerhorn,jaguar cichlid,jack dempsy,firemouth, and a florida gar (all babies) im getting a 50 gallon tank off craigslist only because they have simply grown up but i have had minimal aggression with all of them but the real key is buying them as babies and having them grow up together so i would guess u could probably fit 5 fish in their comfortably but i would suggest getting babies

That tank stocking is extremely overstocked and shouldn't be used as a reference.

You can keep all kinds of huge fish together when they are small, but stocking advice is given with the long term in mind. FH, jags, and JD's need a much larger than than 30g, and the gar needs a huge tank, it gets up to nearly 3 feet long. Here's one we ran into earlier this year.

To the OP, in a 55 I'd probably put a pair of JD's in there, or like you have already mentioned a few smaller cichlids with lots of hiding places.

 

[KonvictKeeper]

You should probably get rid of all the fish besides the firemouth, then get another one and breed.
On another note, a 55g, like jeta said, is a perfect tank for a JD. My 55g will have one in it.
As for keeping different kinds together, don't do convicts, if you had TONS of hiding places I could see it happen. They get absolutely viscous when they breed (which they will). If you had all females or something maybe... But if you got say two pairs and not a lot of hiding places, when one pair starts to breed, they might kill off the other ones. A LFS has a pair of breeding convicts and they have killed everything the LFS tries to put in there.