# Getting into different cichlids...



## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

Today I picked up yet another aquarium, it's a 30 gallon tank. I want to get into cichlids. I've got angelfish, but I want to try something different, and perhaps to get something breeding. I've given convict cichlids a ponder, does anyone else have any ideas as to what would be suitable? Unless I get some African cichlids it will most likely be a species only tank, I must add. Thanks for any and all appropriate responses beforehand


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## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

Unless you have a market for convicts I would stay away from them as you will get many babies in a short time. May I suggest Rams, Laetacara (curviceps, dorsigera), Apistogramma or any other dwarf cichlid from South and Central America.


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## Cyn1k (Apr 24, 2013)

I've recently got myself a new 55g with the same thought in mind. I've currently got 1 Angelfish (still in my other tank) and plan to add 1 more. My idea is to introduce them to the 55g at the same time and hope that they pair. I also have a pair of German Blue Rams, which are beautiful SA Cichlids which I plan to add. I recommend you check GBRs out. There are also Electric Blue Rams which are very cool looking. I'm also hoping to add Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlids (Apistogramma cacatuoides). These are gorgeous SA Cichlids. There seem to be 3 main colour variations. Orange Flash, Red (andn variants Double Red and Triple Red), and the 'standard' colour. Alll are really nice looking fish. I recommend you look into whether you're interested in keeping any of these.

My question is can I keep (ideally) a pair of Angelfish, a pair of German Blue Rams, a pair of Electric Blue Rams, and a pair of each of each of the main colour variations of Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlids in the same 55g tank. Should they all be compatible with each other? What if I add 1 Rainbow Shark to the mix? (He is still small but starting to be a little too aggressive with his tankmates in my 45g tank).


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

Ramirez cichlids are absolutely stunning, but I do wish to try something a little different (I've kept a few off them before), perhaps a species of apistogramma or the other species that were listed in the comments. I'll for sure have a school of small fish in the tank as well, to act as dither fish if I get some apistos/ any other cichlids that would enjoy that, and probably a school of cory cats on the bottom. And to answer the last commenter's question, I don't think you could pull that off, as cichlids do get territorial when breeding, and that many pairs of them could lead to issues...


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

As well, you could get cross breeding of the rams/ apistos between the colour variations... unless that's desired I'd suggest against that


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

As well, when I said a species only tank I meant just for the cichlids, unless they're African cichlids


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## Cyn1k (Apr 24, 2013)

What do you think if I went with a pair of Angels, a pair of German Blue Rams, a pair of one of the Apisto colour variants, and a school of dither fish?? Preferably a colourful school...rainbowfish? Too big and greedy with the food to be good with SA Dwarves?


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

Cyn1k said:


> What do you think if I went with a pair of Angels, a pair of German Blue Rams, a pair of one of the Apisto colour variants, and a school of dither fish?? Preferably a colourful school...rainbowfish? Too big and greedy with the food to be good with SA Dwarves?


If you made plenty of hiding places and densely planted it you'd probably be okay... and I'd pass on rainbowfish being a ditherfish, except maybe furcata rainbow fish... I'd personally go with a larger species of tetra like bleeding hearts or rummynose tetras (my personal favourite)


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## Cyn1k (Apr 24, 2013)

Rummy nose would be a good choice I think. Well suggested! My tank isn't heavily planted though. It is driftwood on either side with top to bottom fake plants just outside the driftwood. The centre is pagoda stone creating 2 decent sized caves, with a plastic pagoda temple on top  I'm planning to put 1 more short (reaching 1/3 up from the bottom) fake plant just right of the pagoda stone but that is really it. I've got 1 rainbow shark in there now just just getting my cycle going (he's on indefinite time-out from his usual tank). He's shown us that there are lots of hiding spaces in this tank. Do you think this would work?


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

Cyn1k said:


> Rummy nose would be a good choice I think. Well suggested! My tank isn't heavily planted though. It is driftwood on either side with top to bottom fake plants just outside the driftwood. The centre is pagoda stone creating 2 decent sized caves, with a plastic pagoda temple on top  I'm planning to put 1 more short (reaching 1/3 up from the bottom) fake plant just right of the pagoda stone but that is really it. I've got 1 rainbow shark in there now just just getting my cycle going (he's on indefinite time-out from his usual tank). He's shown us that there are lots of hiding spaces in this tank. Do you think this would work?


As long as you keep up on your water changes you should be fine


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

bob123 said:


> Unless you have a market for convicts I would stay away from them as you will get many babies in a short time. May I suggest Rams, Laetacara (curviceps, dorsigera), Apistogramma or any other dwarf cichlid from South and Central America.


 I wasn't necessarily planning on getting some apistos, but tonight at the local DRAS meeting I won the mystery fish in a bag, which, lo and behold turned out to be a male/two female trio of apistogramma bitaeniata's, so I may end up rolling with them!


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## lilnick87 (Nov 4, 2012)

*hey*

Kongo tetras look pretty nice with either of those . I recently started a 45 gallon with geophagus cichlid 2 discus 2 angels and 3 types of tetras . The kongo tetras grow to a good size and can fend well from the angels and cichlids i have found.


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

lilnick87 said:


> Kongo tetras look pretty nice with either of those . I recently started a 45 gallon with geophagus cichlid 2 discus 2 angels and 3 types of tetras . The kongo tetras grow to a good size and can fend well from the angels and cichlids i have found.


I agree that congo tetras would be pretty nice, except I don't think a thirty gallon would be comfortable enough for a large school of them... I'm thinking I'm going to be putting in my school of penguin tetras in there, or my rummynose tetras


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## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

I agree as congo tetras will reach about 6" when fully grown, as will angels and discus, it may be to small a tank depending on what type of geo's you put in with the other fish. Good luck.


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## lilnick87 (Nov 4, 2012)

*hey*

O wow i didnt know kongo tetras got that big. I plan on moveing all my fish from that tank to a 75 gallon in the future. I already have the tank its just being used for breeding and housing small african cichlids.


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

If you can find them, get Nannacara anomala! 

Back when I kept them, they were one of the most entertaining cichlid I ever had. One male bred with 3 different females in a 55 gal planted tank, in different areas of the tank, and would constantly travel from nest to nest, tending to the fry, and defending. Plus the males breeding colours were amazing!


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

John_C said:


> If you can find them, get Nannacara anomala!
> 
> Back when I kept them, they were one of the most entertaining cichlid I ever had. One male bred with 3 different females in a 55 gal planted tank, in different areas of the tank, and would constantly travel from nest to nest, tending to the fry, and defending. Plus the males breeding colours were amazing!


I'll definitely have to keep my eye out for those! They look pretty nice (from what came up on google images), and the breeding colours in the photos that came up were stunning!


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

yah I haven't seen them sold in awhile, but when i did obtain them, they weren't that expensive at all when compared to apistos.. I think they were like $5 - $8 each. All you need is a trio, and you'll end up with 25 - 50 fry. 

I remember the male going from golden to almost solid blue/black in a matter of seconds with it's mood change. Definitely a fish with lot's of character!


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

John_C said:


> yah I haven't seen them sold in awhile, but when i did obtain them, they weren't that expensive at all when compared to apistos.. I think they were like $5 - $8 each. All you need is a trio, and you'll end up with 25 - 50 fry.
> 
> I remember the male going from golden to almost solid blue/black in a matter of seconds with it's mood change. Definitely a fish with lot's of character!


Nice! I don't think I've ever seen them before at big als/ other lf's Where did you get yours at the time, if you don't mind me asking?


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## Mykuhl (Apr 8, 2013)

Since you now have apistos, I would suggest a good sized school(10-12) of purple or coral red pencilfish. These make good tank mates for apistos and are nice and colorful. Although they can be hard to come by and are on the expensive side. Cool little fish though.


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

Mykuhl said:


> Since you now have apistos, I would suggest a good sized school(10-12) of purple or coral red pencilfish. These make good tank mates for apistos and are nice and colorful. Although they can be hard to come by and are on the expensive side. Cool little fish though.


I'll keep my eye out for them, although I think I'll be rolling with a school or two of tetras, probably the penguin tetras which I already have


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

Mykuhl said:


> Since you now have apistos, I would suggest a good sized school(10-12) of purple or coral red pencilfish. These make good tank mates for apistos and are nice and colorful. Although they can be hard to come by and are on the expensive side. Cool little fish though.


They do look pretty cool though


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

As well, I'll probably be adding my endlers, and potentially some cory catfish


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## df001 (Nov 13, 2007)

What type of corys are you looking for? I may be able to set you up. I have a few i'm going to rehome eventually.


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

df001 said:


> What type of corys are you looking for? I may be able to set you up. I have a few i'm going to rehome eventually.


Well, I'm hoping to get some fry from a breeding project I'm going to run with my punctatus corys, but if that fails I'll just buy some. What specie(s) do you have?


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## Mykuhl (Apr 8, 2013)

If you ever plan on breeding your apistos or even care if the fry survive(if they do breed), know that the tetras will most likely pick off the fry. Likely faster than the pair are able to defend them.


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

Mykuhl said:


> If you ever plan on breeding your apistos or even care if the fry survive(if they do breed), know that the tetras will most likely pick off the fry. Likely faster than the pair are able to defend them.


Well, it'd be nice to have them breed, and if they do, worse comes to worse I'll either isolate some of the fry in another tank or move the tetras to another tank


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## Mykuhl (Apr 8, 2013)

Good plan then.


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## Fishlover02 (Feb 25, 2013)

Mykuhl said:


> Good plan then.


I thought it was anyways


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