Looking At A Cichlid Tank, Need Pointers?

[techen]

I know all about marine and tropical tanks, But when it comes to Cichlid tanks I have no idea. 
 
Tank is 260l, Looking for a lovely mix of colours and such but no idea where to start with PH etc.
 
Cheers.

 

[Wills]

American or African?

 

[techen]

Any

 

[TallTree01]

In my experiences, I found Africans easier to work with in the beginning. Unless you want to go with dwarves, most Americans are nasty to other cichlids whereas with Africans it is easier to find ones that can live peacefully together.

 

[Wills]

Thats quite a generalistation of Americans
 
If it was Americans I would go for a group of Cupid Cichlids with a single Rotkiel Severum or mouthbrooding Severum (they stay smaller than the regular greens and golds) Then add in a nice school of dither fish like Flame Tetras and some catfish on the bottom, one of the larger cory species would work or hoplos or flagtail catfish.
 
Wills

 

[DrRob]

Personally, I'd start with either the water, or what you can get from the LFS's. Locally we have very hard water, but only really one shop that stocks and sensible selection of malawi's, so a malawi tank would be easy to maintain but difficult to stock around here. There are some lovely SA and CA cichlids in the local shops though, with a good variety on offer, which ought to make no sense, but obviously works for the businesses.

 

[star4]

Personally, I'd start with either the water, or what you can get from the LFS's. Locally we have very hard water, but only really one shop that stocks and sensible selection of malawi's, so a malawi tank would be easy to maintain but difficult to stock around here. There are some lovely SA and CA cichlids in the local shops though, with a good variety on offer, which ought to make no sense, but obviously works for the businesses.

 
I get that same problem, my water is soft and ideal for american, yet most of the local shops stock africans.
 
 
Ditto Rob, go for what suits your water conditions.

 

[DrRob]

Sounds like the West Midlands. At least with Malawi's you can buffer the tank with substrate and rocks. I use a fair amount of RO on my tanks, but my water has farm run off in it and it just about legal for several things, so it makes me feel happier.