Thinking Of Getting A Pair Of Dwarf Cichlids

[Lizzie71]

My new tank is a 2 foot (14 UK gallons) and I am planning to have it planted. I am relatively new to fishkeeping, having had my small tank (see sig) established for about 5 months.

Would it be too ambitious for me to attempt to keep a pair of bolivian rams, German rams, or keyhole cichlids in my new tank? Are they difficult to care for? And would they hate it being a new tank (I will be using some mature media from the other tank to get it cycling)?

Also, would they be OK with a shoal of tetras as tank mates? I am thinking something smallish and colourful, maybe lemon tetras or bleeding heart tetras.

I might possibly add some corys or a smallish plec in the future too.

 

[Colin_T]

As long as there is no ammonia in the water they should be fine in a 2ft tank. All three species will be fine with tetras and corydoras. And they will probably breed once settled in. You could also look at Apistogramma cacatuoides. They are a nice dwarf cichlid.

 

[Matt_northants]

IMO I would add the lemon tetras first, also dwarf cichlids are bolder and more extrovert when a shoal of small tetras etc are present. Dwarf cichlids are really easy to keep as long as the water parameters are correct ie GH, pH, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and low nitrate. A varied diet is also useful such as using flake as a staple and replacing with frozen/live food on alternate days.