Help Take Aquarium Workers Advice?

[112092]

Hey everyone

Im a newbie and I just have a question.

I was having a look at an aquarium locally (in bulleen, Melbourne, Australia). I asked the aquarium assistant about the minimum size of aquarium need to house cichlids because i was under the impression they need quite a large tank. He told me it would be quite adequate to stock some types of cichlids in a 15 gallon tank. he showed me some bright yellow cichlids (not sure on their names, sorry) and he said they dont grow more then a couple of inches which would be suitable.

I'd love it if some people on the forum could let me know if this is correct because I am uneasy taking his advice given what i have read on cichlids.

thanks in advance!!

 

[shroob]

Cichlids are a large bunch of fish, from the huge to the small.
15 gallons will be fine for some types of cichlids, from South American dwarfs to African shell dwellers.

SA Dwarfs:
[URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=30"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=30[/URL]

Shell dwellers:
[URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=14"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=14[/URL]

Though, SA dwarf and shell dwellers are just terms (some can get bigger than what a 15G can house, but in general they stay small - so I would research a fish you see, as just because they may be called shell dweller, some can reach 6").

Would be useful to know dimensions of your tank as well, as that could help with stocking.

 

[112092]

Cichlids are a large bunch of fish, from the huge to the small.
15 gallons will be fine for some types of cichlids, from South American dwarfs to African shell dwellers.

SA Dwarfs:
<a href="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=30" target="_blank">http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=30</a>

Shell dwellers:
<a href="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=14" target="_blank">http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=14</a>

Though, SA dwarf and shell dwellers are just terms (some can get bigger than what a 15G can house, but in general they stay small - so I would research a fish you see, as just because they may be called shell dweller, some can reach 6").

Would be useful to know dimensions of your tank as well, as that could help with stocking.

Thanks very much for the links!
My tank dimensions are 24 inches * 12 inches * 12 inches or 60cm*30cm*30cms

 

[Ace Of Spades]

You could get dwarf cichlids like rams, apisto's and cockatoo's I think. I think he showed you "Yellow Labs" Labido£$" something lol which i think are too big for a 15 gallon.

 

[ox5477]

15G is pretty small for any type of cichlid. The smaller shell dwellers would work but I would say it's encroaching on the small side for the new worlds like rams and apistos. Normally, they need atleast 10G of space to call there own, and you need proportionally more for territory when you add more of the same species. I.e. 1 Ram could live in a 10G, but for 2, would def want atleast a 30G.

The biggest thing to remember is that cichlids are very territorial fish and it's always better to give them more space than they need, then worry about territories overlapping and wounded fish appearing.

Of course some might say that the smaller dwarf cichlids are more peaceful and they are in a community setting with shoals of schooling fish. But, when it comes to members of it's own species, the same cichlid traits as the large guys like o's, jd's, and rd's come out.

 

[shroob]

15G is pretty small for any type of cichlid. The smaller shell dwellers would work but I would say it's encroaching on the small side for the new worlds like rams and apistos. Normally, they need atleast 10G of space to call there own, and you need proportionally more for territory when you add more of the same species. I.e. 1 Ram could live in a 10G, but for 2, would def want atleast a 30G.

The biggest thing to remember is that cichlids are very territorial fish and it's always better to give them more space than they need, then worry about territories overlapping and wounded fish appearing.

Of course some might say that the smaller dwarf cichlids are more peaceful and they are in a community setting with shoals of schooling fish. But, when it comes to members of it's own species, the same cichlid traits as the large guys like o's, jd's, and rd's come out.

Agreed that a 15 gallon tank is pretty small, but a 15 should be good for a breeding pair of SA dwarfs (but I wouldn't have tankmates in there).

 

[ox5477]

Agreed that a 15 gallon tank is pretty small, but a 15 should be good for a breeding pair of SA dwarfs (but I wouldn't have tankmates in there).

Ya, a pair would be fine without tankmates, but not two individuals

 

[112092]

Thanks everyone for their input!

It puts me off wanting to take further advice from that particular aquarium!

I think I'll stick to my plan of doing a small south east asian biotype with danios/barbs or an amazonianish tank with some neon tetra's and a ram.

 

[dthoffsett]

You could get dwarf cichlids like rams, apisto's and cockatoo's I think. I think he showed you "Yellow Labs" Labido£$" something lol which i think are too big for a 15 gallon.

You were thinking labidochromis caeruleus, and they are indeed too big for a 15gal, they like all the cichlids from Lake Malawi should be in a minimum 4-ft tank.

112092, here's a pic of one of my l.caeruleus, is this what they showed you?

 

[112092]

You could get dwarf cichlids like rams, apisto's and cockatoo's I think. I think he showed you "Yellow Labs" Labido£$" something lol which i think are too big for a 15 gallon.

You were thinking labidochromis caeruleus, and they are indeed too big for a 15gal, they like all the cichlids from Lake Malawi should be in a minimum 4-ft tank.

112092, here's a pic of one of my l.caeruleus, is this what they showed you?

Yep, that is indeed what they showed me!

 

[ox5477]

Don't lose all faith in the lfs. This may just be a family of fish that the worker knew little about. Working at an lfs is close to, if not at minimum wage so it's hard find very knowledgable people to give you good information. True, if they didn't really know, then they should of called another employee who may have known more, and this doesn't excuse the lfs from giving you bad info, but give the place a few more chances, and if all else fails, at least you can still use it to buy food and/or equipment as I do with places like petsmart/petco.

 

[Colin_T]

I breed Apistogrammas and rams in 2ft tanks and they are fine living in these tanks all their life. There are no other fish in the tank tho and when the young are old enough they get moved out so the parents can breed again.

Your tank is less than 15g.
To work out the volume of water in the tank

measure Length x Width x Height in cm
divide by 1000
equals volume in litres

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the gravel to the top of the water level.

The electric yellow cichlids you were shown get way too big for your tank.