Did I make a mistake?

[Bryan]

I just bought 2 electric yellow, yellow labs. I put them in a 20 high. After reading the pinned article I wonder if this tank is good enough. There are no other fish in this tank.
The 20 high that they're in has plenty of hiding spots, I have to large rocks, one is full of holes/tunnels. I also have live plants and the bottom is small smooth natural gravel.
Will these fish be OK in this enironment? I have a 20 long I could use...

Second:
When I used to have a african cichlids (20 years ago) I loved how they would spend a lot of time just sitting still, when I placed these fish in the tank, they started swimming against the glass like there trying to get out, is this normal when they're first introduced to a new tank?

 

[Ferris]

Your tank is not ideal for cichlids as they mostly stay in the lower areas of the tank so a long tank id preferable to a high one. Also the tank is not really big enough for Africans. That said, you might be OK with just the 2 yellow labs, they do grow pretty big but if you didn't add any more fish (except maybe a couple of catfish or a plec) you could get away with it. Also labs are not particularly agressive and will probably tolerate each other. See how it goes, you may get the bug again and buy another larger tank anyway further down the line. Hope this helps.

They can be a bit skittish when moved to a new envionment but they should settle quite quickly, i wouldn't worry about that.

 

[Bryan]

Your tank is not ideal for cichlids as they mostly stay in the lower areas of the tank so a long tank id preferable to a high one. Also the tank is not really big enough for Africans. That said, you might be OK with just the 2 yellow labs, they do grow pretty big but if you didn't add any more fish (except maybe a couple of catfish or a plec) you could get away with it. Also labs are not particularly agressive and will probably tolerate each other. See how it goes, you may get the bug again and buy another larger tank anyway further down the line. Hope this helps.

They can be a bit skittish when moved to a new envionment but they should settle quite quickly, i wouldn't worry about that.

Thank you for your opinion, it makes sense:
I'll change to the 20 long, I need to get a hood for that, but I've got lenty of time as these yellow labs are only about 2" long at the time. I do not plan on adding any other fish except a small plec, if I can find one, you can't be picky in Hawaii, have to take what they got.
This will work out, I wanted to silicone some gravel to the bottom & sides (maybe 2" up) if I ever got a cichlid tank again, but this tank (20 high) was allready set up for a few months. This way I can glue some gravle to the bottom and maybe an inch or 2 up the sides of the 20 long before I move them in. I didn't plan on getting these, I went to the lfs today to get a pair of fish for the 20 as it was set up & ready, and fell in love with these (so did my wife).

I probably won't get another tank, I allready have too many - 2 55's, 2 20's (1 long and 1 high) and a 10gal betta tank and there in my wifes classroom so I can't give them the attention I want to. But if I do get another one, I only have room for one more, either a 20 high or 10 but that's it.

 

[G_Sharky]

you could even get away with another 2 yellow labs as long as your tank is filtered really well, but don't try other africans as they require bigger space to reduced their aggression...goodluck....