WHat to do?

[L'homme de poisson]

I just recieved a 55gal. aquarium it's my second larger aquarium. I've always loved cichlids, but I'm not sure what speices would be suitable for that size of tank. Anyone got any suggestions? Thanks!

[kevkoi]

Hmmm.. lets see... 55gal. Where u from? I'm guessing somewhere in the USA? (55gal... kinda hints.).

There are so many choices. To begin with, which locality of cichlids are u thinking? South America? Central America, African rift lakes (Malawi? Tanganyikan?), Asia or one of the many hybrid cichlids (Parrot fish, Flowerhorns etc)? I don't suggest you mix cichlids of various localities because their prefered water chemistry is very different.

I have a 55gal, 4ft tank which is heavily planted (4 flourescent light tubes, DIY CO2, laterite subsrate, soft water, acidic black water conditions). In there are Angels, Discus, Rams for cichlids. There's also a school of cardinal tetras, rummy nose tetras and penguin tetras. All fish from the same biotope.

Alternatively, a friend of mine has the same size tank and he as a show tank of lake malawi peacock cichlids (all the various Alunacara sp.). The water is hard (use coral chips as substrate and u will have perfect hard water for these cichlids), the decoration is lots or large rocks stacked on top of each other. No plants (as the fish will kill the plants with all the digging around in the gravel.). For this show tank, he only has males (as they're the the ones with the colour... all the females are a drab grey) and he has 15 fish in this tank.

A Tanganyikan setup would be again different...... There's Tropheus, Leptasoma, Ventralis........ the list can go on forever.

there's just so much to choose. What's ur preference?

[L'homme de poisson]

Well, I really like the apistogramma and such, they're small enough that I would be able to have many more spiecies. I've put down a sand (with a little bit of coral), but I also have pieces of driftwood and it is going to be heavily planted. Right now I have some java fern that I've attached to them, anubias nanna, Narrow leafed temples, and some kind of grass. I'm also trying to find a small water logged stump to cut to fit and place in my tank, but arizona isn't a very aquatic place. My local pet shops only carry the larger cichlids, mollies and of course gold fish.

[kevkoi]

Not a good idea to have various species of apistogrammas in the same tank. Best to have 1 species/tank to avoid cross breeding.