Would This Work?

[sjrose77]

Hi,

I am new to cichlids and I am trying to plan a 55 gallon tank. I am wondering if I could put 1 yellow lab male, 3 yellow lab females, 1 cobalt blue male, and 3 cobalt blue females together in a 55 gallon tank. Would I need any cleaner fish for this tank? What kind of sand/rock would I want to put in here? Could I put any plants in, or would they uproot them all? Would I need a cannister filter or would a HOB work? Thanks, Sarah

 

[bullit]

st0cking im n0t upt0 scratch 0n but a cleaner fish is upt0 y0u. y0ud want c0ral sand and maybe c0ral r0ck f0r the ph th0ugh granite 0r slate is p0pular. java fern f0r plants as cichids like t0 eat them unless y0u g0 platic. i d0nt kn0w the H0b term either but a canister filter is n0rmally used.

 

[james41683]

that would be fine for a 55 gallon as long as it a standard 4 foot long tank, you could even up the number of females or add another 1m:3f of another species. the clean up crew is up the you alot of people use bristle nose plecos and synodontis catfish in cichlid tanks. the plecos are hit or miss some times they live fine, sometimes they are killed, but the synos do very well. plants will be up rooted unless you use something like anubius or java fern and attatch it to the rock work. for sand and rock, crusted coral and limestone are used alot because they keep the ph up, but regular play sand and clay flower pots are a cheap alternative. the filter is up to you as long as it filters the amount of water you have 10x an hour. aquaclear makes a really good hob and rena has pretty good canisters. also there are some good links at the top of this section you could read over.