South American Cichlids

[justinp]

Hi Everyone

Ive never posted in this forum before as I dont have cichlids...yet! I am looking into converting one of my smaller Brackish water tanks (40g) into a cichlid tank. I really like some of the South American Cichlids and would love as much info as you guys could give me on them...I know very little! I have kept fish for about 10 years now (fresh, brackish and marine), so I know a bit about fish keeping, but not cichlids. How difficult are these fish? How aggressive? What type of fish do you recommend cycling a tank with? Ect. Ect.

Thanks

Justin

 

[sylvia]

First of all - don't cycle with fish. Do a fishless cycle. It's far quicker, less stressful on you and won't kill any fish. It also allows you to add as many as you like all at once without risking a re-cycle. Read the appropriate link in my signature to learn how to do one (it's extremely simple realy).

As for cichlids' difficulty and aggression etc, that's not a question that can just be answered 'in general'. 'Cichlids' are a huge group of fish. They vary incredibly from the fragile discus and somewhat shy keyhole to the more aggressive and breed-like-rabbits convicts etc. Their requirements, temperaments and breeding habits vary greatly and their max. sizes range widely as well. One thing almost all cichldis have in common is that they tend to be territorial and become more aggressive when they are breeding.

Do you have anything particular in mind and have you considered African cichlids at all?
Are you after something hardy, colorful, a community fish or something more aggressive or something very easy to breed etc?

Your tank, being only 40 gallons, will limmit what you can keep - but there are still many options. Some of the more common ones would be kribs (these are African), bolivian rams, german blue/gold rams, convicts, keyholes and angelfish. These are just a few species that would be suitable for your tank's size and you are very likely to find at your LFS. Some would work in community set-ups but something like convicts would do better in a tank built around them as they can be extremely aggressive when breeding (which is rpetty much all the time ). However, also look into the Apistogramma genus (though less readily available) and don't forget the multitude of African species - of particular interest might be the shell-dwelling species of lake Tanganyika (eg:, my favourite, Neolamprologus multifasciatus).

edit: BTW, if you are into brackish tanks, maybe look at the orange chromide.

 

[justinp]

First of all - don't cycle with fish. Do a fishless cycle. It's far quicker, less stressful on you and won't kill any fish. It also allows you to add as many as you like all at once without risking a re-cycle. Read the appropriate link in my signature to learn how to do one (it's extremely simple realy).

As for cichlids' difficulty and aggression etc, that's not a question that can just be answered 'in general'. 'Cichlids' are a huge group of fish. They vary incredibly from the fragile discus and somewhat shy keyhole to the more aggressive and breed-like-rabbits convicts etc. Their requirements, temperaments and breeding habits vary greatly and their max. sizes range widely as well. One thing almost all cichldis have in common is that they tend to be territorial and become more aggressive when they are breeding.

Do you have anything particular in mind and have you considered African cichlids at all?
Are you after something hardy, colorful, a community fish or something more aggressive or something very easy to breed etc?

Your tank, being only 40 gallons, will limmit what you can keep - but there are still many options. Some of the more common ones would be kribs (these are African), bolivian rams, german blue/gold rams, convicts, keyholes and angelfish. These are just a few species that would be suitable for your tank's size and you are very likely to find at your LFS. Some would work in community set-ups but something like convicts would do better in a tank built around them as they can be extremely aggressive when breeding (which is rpetty much all the time ). However, also look into the Apistogramma genus (though less readily available) and don't forget the multitude of African species - of particular interest might be the shell-dwelling species of lake Tanganyika (eg:, my favourite, Neolamprologus multifasciatus).

edit: BTW, if you are into brackish tanks, maybe look at the orange chromide.

Thanks for the advice.

I am looking for something colourful, and not necessarily for a community tank (I have enough of those). I am also able to use one of my 100g tanks if necessary if it makes it easier. I have seen some green terrors, which I really like, but dont know much about except what I have read on the internet...

As for fishless cycling, Im not a big fan...I have done it before but prefer fish. The resulting bacteria from fishless just never seem strong (had huge ammonia and nitrite spikes after) And no I have not lost many fish at all cycling tanks. Usually used hardy fish such as Mollies for brackish (Monos used to be used all the time to cycle sea water tanks, before Live rock was so easily available). Having said that, if your telling me there are no fish capable for cycling this kind of tank, then I will have no choice but to go fishless...

Thanks

 

[sylvia]

Some of the cichlids you might be interested in would be the Apistogramma I mentioned, rams - both bolivian and german blue/gold or discus. These are all colorful and can be kept in community-type set-ups though teh discus obviously need a larger tank (100 gallons would eb perfect) and are a little mroe fragile. None of these could be used to cycle with though.

Other colorful but a little more aggressive fish are firemouths, severums, kribs (African) and many of the acaras. Mind you, these vary greatly aggression-wise - they'd all work ok in a more 'boisterous' set-up. Some are hardier than others but none of these are suitable for cycling with except maybe the kribs. All of these, except the kribs and dwarf acaras, will need to go in a larger tank.

There are plenty of less common species you could try but these are realy the easier ones to get hold of and the best to begin with (except discus which are rather easy to kill - though they are becoming increasingly easier to keep alive IMO).

I think, though, that it would be best to go African. If you are after something colorful and active but also hardy, make use of that 100 gallon tank and try out some mbuna. The smaller tank would be better suited to something non-cichlid. My favourite mbuna species are Iodotropheus sprengerae, Pseudotropheus acei, P. socolofi, P. saulosi and Labidochromis caeruleus. These are all relatively common in LFSs as well but look amazing when combined because their colors are very complementary. Do a google search for pics.
You could probably cycle with a bunch of Labs but you realy shouldn't have to - the reason your fishless cycle won't have worked as well would have been because you added too many fish at once afterwards, not enough ammonia to begin with and may have left a gap between adding ammonia and adding fish 9at which point the bacteria start to die off). Also, fishless cycles take much less time - a couple of weeks or so is common - where cycling with fish can take more than 2 months. Obviously, it's up to you - but make shure the fish are up to it.