Cichlid For A 40G?

[Squigs]

I'm thinking of going from cold water to tropical and looking into fish I could have. I'm looking for fish that will recognize people or at least engage with us at some level and someone recommended cichlids.

The only thing is that my tank is only 160L (40gallons) and my ph is 8.5 so this limits choice a bit.

Are there any cichlids that I could have? Any suggestions would be great! Thanks!

 

[fishprotector]

With a ph that high, you would be best looking at Tangs. I have kept Brichardi before and they seemed to recognise me.

 

[kiriyama]

What are the dimensions of the tank ? LxWxH ? I would suggest Tanganyikans also (biassed) , you could get a small "community" tank set up

Cheers, Sean

 

[thereverendturtle]

+1 you could have a very nice tanganyikan tank. They are highly intelligent fish.

 

[Malawi MaD]

Have to agree with everyone else tangs would be ideal for your tank, as the other african's (Malawis and Victorians) could get a little to large for your sized tank.

 

[Squigs]

What are the dimensions of the tank ? LxWxH ? I would suggest Tanganyikans also (biassed) , you could get a small "community" tank set up

Cheers, Sean

Very sorry for delayed response, been a work pretty much non-stop. These are the details of my tank (copied from random website):

Aqua One Aquastyle 850 Aquarium and Cabinet technical details
Dimensions Tank: 84 W x 58 H x 44 D cm
Water Capacity: 165 L
Lighting: 2 x 30" 25W, 1 x 23.5" 20W
Powerhead: 1000 L/hr
Filtration: 2 x Carbon Cartridge with Filter Wool + 2 x Sponge Pad + Ceramic Noodles

Just had a look at some tangs and lookswise... so I'll just have to do a bit more reading to decide which one to have etc I have plenty of time though.

In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!

Thanks!!

 

[thereverendturtle]

Other fish you might consider would be some of the smaller central American cichlids. Some are just as beautiful as the tangs imo. And the lesser aggressive ones can be kept with other species quite easily.

 

[toddnbecka]

For that size tank you'd be best with a couple smaller species of substrate spawners, or a species tank of brichardi (or one of the brichardi complex.) Lamprologus multifasciatus, pair or trio, with a handful of shells on one end would be quite enjoyable. A rockpile on the other end of the tank and a pair of Julidiochromis transcriptus would work well with the multi's. You could also stock a single Calvus to pick off some of the fry (if you're lucky) though most likely you'll still have a good number of them growing out.
The brichardi and their close relatives are a bit more outgoing. Thing is, they/re colony spawners, and will take over the whole tank rather quickly. As the fry grow larger they help the parents guard the new/smaller fry, and increase the size of their territory as their numbers grow. Any other fish simple get pushed into corners then stressed to death when they can't get away.

 

[kiriyama]

Have a look at
exLamprologus caudopunctatus
Julidochromis sp.
Compressiceps sp. , have a look at calvus

might makle a great brichardi or pulcher tank , good footprint but still a bit limited in size though, bit tight for Cyprichromis or Paracyprichromis , have had a similiar sized tank, bit smaller and had julidochromis, caudopunctatus and multifasciatus, I'm sure you could get a shell dweller and rock dweller in there, I'm guessing caudopunctatus would be cool as they use the open water and display a lot, the love digging in the sand and use the rockwork, worth a look

Cheers, Sean

 

[Squigs]

So much choice!!

I'd rather have a community tank so I guess brichardi and Julidiochromis transcriptus (seems like all the Julidochromis are aggressive?) are out.

Leaving:
Lamprologus multifasciatus
Calvus and
Compressiceps

Are other suggestions for me to look at?

 

[kiriyama]

So much choice!!

I'd rather have a community tank so I guess brichardi and Julidiochromis transcriptus (seems like all the Julidochromis are aggressive?) are out.

Leaving:
Lamprologus multifasciatus
Calvus and
Compressiceps

Are other suggestions for me to look at?

Just been reading about someone with a smaller tank, same size as my first Tanganyikan attempt....

2 Altolamprologus compressiceps sp. "shell" (Sumbu) (pair) aka sumbu shell / dwarf sumbu
2 Lamprologus brevis (pair)
6 Cyprichromis leptosoma (Mpulungu) (2m/4f)

So far working out fine, I'm not saying do it 'cos on paper it shouldnt work, in my own 30" x 12" x 15"high 95ltr had 6 multifasciatus , 1 julidochromis dickfeldi , 1 exLamprologus caudopunctatus, then it was 6 multies and 4 dwarf sumbu, the sumbu spawned regular...

Cheers, Sean

 

[Squigs]

So much choice!!

I'd rather have a community tank so I guess brichardi and Julidiochromis transcriptus (seems like all the Julidochromis are aggressive?) are out.

Leaving:
Lamprologus multifasciatus
Calvus and
Compressiceps

Are other suggestions for me to look at?

Just been reading about someone with a smaller tank, same size as my first Tanganyikan attempt....

2 Altolamprologus compressiceps sp. "shell" (Sumbu) (pair) aka sumbu shell / dwarf sumbu
2 Lamprologus brevis (pair)
6 Cyprichromis leptosoma (Mpulungu) (2m/4f)

So far working out fine, I'm not saying do it 'cos on paper it shouldnt work, in my own 30" x 12" x 15"high 95ltr had 6 multifasciatus , 1 julidochromis dickfeldi , 1 exLamprologus caudopunctatus, then it was 6 multies and 4 dwarf sumbu, the sumbu spawned regular...

Cheers, Sean

Thanks for that. I think I'll just have to spend more time reading around really!! To be honest I hadn't thought of cichlids before until someone mentioned it to me. Now that I've been reading more about them, I'll definitely have them in my tank. Not sure which ones and when but I definitely will!!

Thank you for everyone's help!