55 Gallon Cichlid Tank

[flamesfan255]

Hello everyone,
 
I'm new to the forum and new to Cichlids so please bare with me with any of my potentially dumb questions. I have had several community tropical fish tanks in the past but shut them all down due to moving and work. I now have the time again and would like to get something a little different from the typical neons and guppies.
 
I would like to set up a 55 gallon tank with Yellow labs, Acei and peacocks cichlids.
 
If there any recommendations for any changes I should make to my list. Also a comfortable number for each amount.
 
Any info is greatly appreciated.

 

[firebirdracer]

I am also new to cichlid keeping and I have heard that it's very difficult to keep haps with other types because of the Hap aggression. The Acei and Peackcock fall under the Hap category and the yellow lab does not. That being said, I have an OB Peacock and yellow lab and they don't bother each other one bit. Try it out. See what happens! As for numbers, I have heard a general rule of one inch per gallon. So go by the max size of each fish you are looking at and get just under 55 with the sum of max sizes. I have a 45 gallon tank with 5 mbunas, one OB Peacock, one yellow lab, one daffodil and a synodontis multiplicatus catfish.
 
Look up a synodontis multiplicatus and see if you would like one or two. They are great tank mates with cichlids, they come from Lake Tanganyika, which is were some cichlids are from as well. 
 
Hope this helps!

 

[james41683]

Labs and acei work great with peacocks, I've had them mixed for years. Try 1m3f of the labs and acei, then maybe for different male peacocks.

 

[Barb-barian]

I have also had success with peacocks and labs.  Its more about the tempera mentality of the fish.  It can be better to crowd the aquarium because this makes it much more difficult for them to set up individual territories and it also helps if one is getting picked on because he or she can escape into the crowd.  HOWEVER it does require frequent water changes because more fish equals more waste which will need to be taken care of. Also with the peacocks it is advisable to get males of different species because this will help cut down on aggression. Which I believe was mentioned above

 

[james41683]

You can also replace a few of the peacocks with smaller species of haps.

 

[psychonaut]

acei are not haps