tank size and water

[Bo Sox Fan]

Hey- new to cichlids here, can a small number of them be kept in a twenty gallon tank? and what kinda pH do they like?

 

[Finarfin]

Hey Sox,

Yes you can keep Cichlids in a twenty, for that size of tank I'd look at a group of fish from Lake Tanganyka called "Shell Dwellers". I haven't kept them myself but they stay small and supposedly have very interesting behavior. As the name suggests, they like to hang out in empty snail shells. The only name I can remember is Lamprologus Ocellatus. Hopefully someone who knows more about them can give you some more names. If you want to consider South American fish you could keep some Rams, I haven't kept them either but have often thought a group of 3 or 4 would go well in a 20. There's several varieties, blue, red and golden rams to name a few. They're quite peaceful, colourful, and don't get too big. The Africans like a fairly high ph, say 7 or 8, the rams would probably like softer water. Once again I've never kept rams so I'm guessing.

HTH,

Fin