# advice on fish for 50gal



## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

Hello, i am thinking of getting a tank at 50-60gal and i would like your advice on what to put inside.

Here is what I want and can do

1) i would like some kind of african or even american cichlid (mbuna, tropheus, hap etc)

2) I need it to have nice colours. Of course that is subjective but I mean to be interesting 

3) I need it to be of regular size. Nothing too small or too big.

4) I need it to live with rocks and be known for enduring plants. I would like to plant .It is NOT a deal breaker if I can't but I would like to 9 even the easy hard ones like anubias etc)

5) Due to financial issues but also for personal reasons the fish cannot be very expensive to buy. I know this is not a very nice thing to have in mind when setting up a tank but for personal reasons i would like you to cope with me in this one.

6) The more resistant to illnesses and easy for not-so-experienced people they are, the better.

Thanks in advance


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

no one here?


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

bump this again


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

...............


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

what I want is advice from members that already have that fish, or know a lot about that fish. I could go to a pet store and buy some, right? that is not the point.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

try the cichlid section of these message boards for the cichlid experts


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I would repost this in the cichlid forum.. but fwiw, not many cichlids are good with plants. Some are.. but most tend to destroy them. Angelfish are not bad with plants..and there are a few others that won't tear them up, but in general, if you want a nicely planted tank, you might want to consider fish other than cichlids.


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## malajulinka (Mar 29, 2008)

Apistos and Rams are fine with plants, and both are technically cichlids. They're showy, not super expensive, and (at least if you get locally bred ones so they're used to the water) fairly easy to keep.


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

http://aquariumlore.blogspot.ca/2008/05/ram-cichlid.html

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/apisto_care.php

you are talking about those two huh? yeah, i liked those the truth is. If I can find apisto that colour I would be very in.

Until now I only have experience with convicts and labidochromis. If I find a bigger tank (70-80 gal) I would like to have a couple of different species


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## malajulinka (Mar 29, 2008)

I have a pair of German x Electric Blue rams from Tropicana on this forum, and I love them. They're very friendly and pretty. Rams do like to live with "dither fish" like neon tetras. It brings them out of their shells.

Last summer Menagerie had a HUGE shipment of Apistogramma in, all kinds of different colours. I'm hoping that happens again sometime in the future because I'm setting up a 20 long with them in mind...


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

so we can have ramirezi with neon tetras in one tank? how would that go in gallons and set up?

I had a pair of convicts in on etank but I really like to have more than 2 fish.


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## malajulinka (Mar 29, 2008)

I have a pair of rams in a 30 gallon with a mixed school of nine neons and cardinals (LFS error) 6 juvenile pencilfish, and a couple of BNPs (although I'm looking to rehome one of those...) Everyone seems to be happy and healthy. It's planted, but not too heavily.


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

malajulinka said:


> I have a pair of rams in a 30 gallon with a mixed school of nine neons and cardinals (LFS error) 6 juvenile pencilfish, and a couple of BNPs (although I'm looking to rehome one of those...) Everyone seems to be happy and healthy. It's planted, but not too heavily.


any pics from it?


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## malajulinka (Mar 29, 2008)

Only really crappy webcam shots! 










The tank, the filter, the lights, and the plants (and the rams!) are from members on this forum. The wood and the weathered bricks I found by the lake. The fish are from Menagerie, the gravel's from Big Al's, and I got the soil and the glass for the lid at Home Hardware. The bubbly diver is a family heirloom. 

I put all that just to show it's possible to do this on a budget. There's probably about $200 worth of everything in the tank, but I built up and added livestock slowly.

Good luck!


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

Electric Blue Jack Dempsys are nice. You could always do Angelfish


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

I was thinking about putting in a ram and some serpaes if i try and fail to house shrimps in my tank this coming month. Rams are a beaut


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

I would really like to like angelfish but for some reason I don't!


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

lol... Discus? Oscars... although they get big... Hmm, Green terror cichlid... Red Devil (you'd only want to keep the 1 lol) Assorted Bichirs and Firemouth cichlids for the midswim?


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

Ryan.Wilton said:


> lol... Discus? Oscars... although they get big... Hmm, Green terror cichlid... Red Devil (you'd only want to keep the 1 lol) Assorted Bichirs and Firemouth cichlids for the midswim?


discus too expensive and get sick easily! oscars get gigantic! my dream tank would have 8-12 fish of 1-3 types but fully compatible


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## malajulinka (Mar 29, 2008)

Vangelis21 said:


> I would really like to like angelfish but for some reason I don't!


I feel the same way about angelfish.


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

malajulinka said:


> I feel the same way about angelfish.


I thrice that statement. They just don't do it for me lol (sounds so horribly wrong).


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

lol @ riddler.... Hmm... You could try Dwarf Cockatoo Cichlids? Convict cichlids are alright, but they just don't stop breeding.

Hm... what about Parrot Cichlids? Or Jellybean Parrot cichlids?


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