South American Centerpiece Fish

[silenthawk2x3]

I am BIG into the South American biotypes and I have one wall of my house devoted to them. I have a 20H that I am looking to find a centerpiece fish for. 
 
Substrate:
Organic potting soil
Black gravel
Black river rocks
 
Plants:
Red melon sword
Amazon sword
Small variety of lily (native to North America, sorry I cheated, but it's hard to find lilies that are small enough to not block all my expensive lighting from reaching the bottom of my tanks)
Maybe some other plants if I can ever get any. It's hard to get plants.
 
Filter/Light:
I have an old filter that I don't even know the name of... It's a HOB, decently over-sized for the tank.
2 24W T5HO bulbs in  my new fixture I got yesterday, so we should be good for light.
 
Fish:
5 Bloodfin tetras
6 Corydoras paleatus
 
I have angelfish in my 55 gallon directly above my 20H so I don't need any more angels at the moment, but I am looking for a good looking fish that will bring life to the tank. Any suggestions are welcome. I was originally just going to have tetras and cories in the tank, but it wants something more. Obviously the tank is cycled, stable, and happy since I've fish in it.

 

[ncguppy830]

does 20h meen 20 gallon high? if it was bigger id say discus but in this case a pair or just one german blue ram.

 

[wrightt3]

I would go with a dwarf cichlid of some sort...
Rams, Apistos, Keyhole or Dwarf Acaras.

 

[silenthawk2x3]

Discus are definitely off the list... Too big, too expensive, I would be terrified of not giving them the space and care they deserve, or have them die. :C
 
What I really want is some help deciding because I don't know much about cichlids. I need some direction. If this was your tank what would you do? Species please.

 

[ncguppy830]

once again dwarf chiclids i know there are some great starrter ones and i would reccomend a german bluem ram

 

[Wills]

I disagree... Blue Rams are hard to keep, the reason for this is you do not know what kind of ram you are getting or the parentage of the ram. The problem with this is that the ones closer to wild or indeed wild caught need high temperatures and low ph where as the mass farm bred ones need neutral ph and mid range temperatures. The risk is you dont know which kind you have - even the ones unlabeled as wild in the shop might only be one or two generations from wilds. Even the colour morphs of Golds, Electric Blues etc can be crossed with a wild to get some good genes into them after intensive breeding right before the batch for sale is produced.
 
And since you already have fish in there that wont match the requirements of the wild type Rams you could end up with I would go for something else.
 
In a 20g my first choices would be Latecara Dorsigera, Laetacara Curviceps or Nannacara Anomala. You could also look at Checkerboard Cichlids which are always nice
 
Wills

 

[silenthawk2x3]

I had read a lot about rams being hard to keep well because of captive-bred/wild-caught individuals. I really like the look of the Laetacara curviceps. A pair would be suitable for a 20 High, right? 

 

[Wills]

What are the dimensions, they should be though - Laetacara take only a very small territory when breeding and are quite timid fish really - I think they will compliment the other fish you have in there as well
 
Wills

 

[silenthawk2x3]

Dimensions are 24" x 12" x 16". If two pairs would be appropriate for the space I would keep two pairs if not I would keep one pair, but as I said, I don't know much about cichlids. I am going to assume that it is enough for one pair only as more space is better.

 

[Wills]

Yeah go for one pair Males and females are quite easy to distinguish in stores - males have pointed dorsal fins and females are rounded To make sure you get the Curviceps they have a stripe that runs from mouth to tail Running half way are Dorsiger and running up through the dorsal fin is Thayeri.
 
Wills

 

[silenthawk2x3]

Thanks! You've been very helpful. I'll go talk to my fish lady tomorrow as she is doing an order for me Thursday. I work at the LFS so it shouldn't be hard to finagle.