I've got a 55 gal tank I'm going to set up and I've got 2 ways of going on it and I'm not sure which way to go. First one is.....move my fish in the 30 gal into it (4 Cockatoo Cichlids (been laying eggs), 5 adult +babies guppies, and 2 dwarf Cories) and then maybe getting some other fish that would be happy in there. Second one is......going with some African Cichlids. If I went with the Africans I want something that stays small, has some pretty colors, and isn't too expensive. I'm not worried about breeding, but if I got some that did it would be so cool. Also, I'd prefer one that doesn't dig up plants because I love real plants. Thank you.

Africans have a tendency to dig up and eat plants. Supposedly there are a few species of plants they won't touch, but that doesn't mean they won't uproot them.

I mean it's really up to you. 55 gallon is fine for the smaller species, either I would go with one-three species of africans and have 1 male to every 3-4 females, or do an all male tank where you can have about 12-15 different species of africans.

If you decide to move your fish from the 30 to the 55, then I would buy some multi's and put them in the 30.....

Africans have a tendency to dig up and eat plants. Supposedly there are a few species of plants they won't touch, but that doesn't mean they won't uproot them.

I mean it's really up to you. 55 gallon is fine for the smaller species, either I would go with one species of africans and have 1 male to every 4-5 females, or do an all male tank where you can have about 12-15 different species of africans.

If you decide to move your fish from the 30 to the 55, then I would buy some multi's and put them in the 30.....

I would also add a couple more cories. They are more fun to watch in numbers...

Hope this helps some...

This post has been edited by adpierin11: May 27 2008, 11:48 PM

You could go with some of the Lake Tanganikya cichlids, they will generally leave plants alone, however, they tend to be a bit more expensive than the Lake Malawi cichlids.

If you put them in the 55gal, you could go with peacocks from Lake Malawi, they should ignore your plants, are brightly colored (the males anyways), and relative inexpensive depending on your location.

Here are a couple of links on stocking and peacocks.

55 gallons stocking
Peacocks

I would either go with some Peacocks( dont know thier scientific name), or some Yellow Labs( Labidochromis Caerulus) with your going with sometihng from Lake Malawi. Yellow labs are VERY PRETTY, and breed readily. Also, if your going for sometihng from Lake Tanganikya i would vote for Brichardi ( dont remeber thier scientific name!) and maybe some Neolamprologus leleupi or Lemon Cichlid's as well. If your giong for something from a river, such as the Niger River, i would have to put a Good word in for Kribensis Cichlids( Pelvachromis Pulcher) . My favorite color variety is Pelvachomis Taeniatus "kienke" or Kribensis Cichlid "Kienke": http://www.tedsfishroom.com/wp/wp-content/...Jun5_07_001.jpg

Just my 2 cents.

My boyfried and I decided to put my fish that are in the 30 gal in the 55 gal and also put this 4 Cockatoos in with mine. And he'll be getting some Kribs for his 125 gal, he had them before but they died and he loved those fish. He's breed them before and loved watching them with their babies. So now it's....What do we put in the 30 gal, lol. I'm looking at some small Africans and I'm not worried about getting babies. We're also looking at getting a few African Butterflies, so if we have a baby boom that we can't handle, the African's can eat the extras. We're starting to have a guppy baby boom. Which to take care of that we took the cover plants away in the 125 gal and his leporinous (sp?) and Gouromies ate a bunch of them (we had about 100 babies!). Also, some of the tiny ones got tossed in my tank for my Cockatoos to eat (seems to get them spawning).