# How big of a tank for chiclids?



## kyle775 (Oct 21, 2008)

How large of a tank should i use for a chiclid community??

i have a smaller 20 gallon tank is that good? how many could i have in it?


----------



## gunnerx (Mar 20, 2008)

kyle775 said:


> How large of a tank should i use for a chiclid community??
> 
> i have a smaller 20 gallon tank is that good? how many could i have in it?


It depends on the type of Cichlids you will be keeping. Tanganyika shell dwellers would be perfect in a 20g. However, most other African Cichlids require much larger tanks as they are quite active. I would say no less than 45 gallons. I am not too familiar with SA Cichlids and others but I would assume they are similar.


----------



## JamesG (Feb 27, 2007)

For peacocks or other lake malawi african cichlids you will quickly fill that tank and want at least a 40+ gallon tank as they grow quite large rather quickly.


----------



## kyle775 (Oct 21, 2008)

thanks for the quick responses!
i will likely set up another tank then... seems like the best thing for chicilds.

thanks again


----------



## William F (Apr 21, 2009)

Well, should be at least 100l, but should be ok. Depends, if youre keeping rift lake cichlids, it depends on what river theyre from. A tank that size could hold about 50cm fish (about 5 7.5cm fish) for lake Tanganyika, and about 6 of those size fishes for lake Malawi.


----------



## overleaf (Feb 1, 2009)

20G is perfect for most shellies.

If you want to keep anything else though I think the bare minimum is 55G. I started with a 40 and within 3 months the fish went from friendly <1" fry to 2-3" monsters killing each other. 

Moved the all to a 75G and now they have their own territories. These were labs and peacocks.

That said, if you want to have just a pair a 20G is sufficient for most cichlids < 5".


----------



## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

There are lots of SA cichlids that would fit into that tank, especially if it is a long. Apistos, rams, Laetacara, for example. I just sold 3 P. flavus that grew up and were doing fine in a 15. There were lots of rocks so they did not harm each other. They actually did really well the biggest being over 4" and the tank wasn't heated.


----------



## Cory (May 2, 2008)

Any of the "dwarf" cichlids will work in a 20gal. Unfortunately, IN MY OPINION  many of the dwarf cichlids are unappealing visually. The only ones I really like are the julidochromites, microgeos and apistos although many apistos would not do well in a 20 gal. Truthfully, after collecting many 20 gallon tanks I realized I hate their shape, they aren't big enough for the really interesting stuff and they don't even work great as grow out tanks for fry. I'm considering getting rid of all of mine and replacing them with 35s. With a 35 gal you can get into some more interesting fish. 

If your budget isn't too tight and space is available a 75 long makes a great cichlid tank for most of the rift lake species a 55 will also suffice but be sure to give plenty of territories using rocks and other decorations to allow fish a retreat when they're picked on. One of my customers found a really neat log/tree/branch decoration made of plastic that is hollow inside. It looks cool and the smaller yellow lab goes in there to hide out and occasionally peeks his head out, it's really cute. 

Anyways, if you want any specific advice on cichlids let me know, I have hundreds of them


----------

