ooibhuskyoo

Hey Guys,

I am about ready to set up my 60 US gallon tank (which I scored for free via craigslist!), and I REALLY want to have a Cichlid tank because they look like real pretty fish. Can anyone give me an example of what I can stock, and how my aquascape should look like please?

O yeah, how do you pronounce Cichlid anyways? LOL

Thanks,
Calvin

Nick G

"Sick-Lid", is the correct pronunciation, although I say Chill-Lid , what sort of Cichlids were you thinking of?

namehater

i dont think the tanks 'looks' are important. there are a ton of different cichlids to choose from, im currently working towards stocking my 55g african cichlid tank with mbuna cichlids. i went with Mbuna because they seem to be the least aggressive and i wanted a selection of species in the 4" range. so far i have yellow lab cichlids, next up on my stock list yellow tail acei.

make sure you do tons and tons or research before you start buying cichlids, lots of them wont coexist.

ooibhuskyoo

Yeah,

So I was thinking about getting some brighter looking cichlids because in my 40 gallon tank, all my fish are rather dull-colored. Yellow labs are definitely on my list. What "bright-colored" cichlids will coexist with starting WWIII in my tank?

This is a current want list:
Acei Cichlids
Johanni Cichlids
Peacock Cichlids
Zebra Cichlids
Demasoni Cichlids
Electric Yellow/Blue Cichlids
Kenyi Cichlids
Tretocephalus Cichlids
Marlieri Cichlids

I know the list is long, but I want to know which will get along because I'm assuming not all of them do. If there's other pretty/bright Cichlids please let me know! I'm still doing research on the basic care of cichlids and haven't even touched the different species (which I understand there are 1000's of!)

Thanks,
Calvin

namehater

if i were you i would stick with yellow labs and the acei. 40g would be a little on the small side to stock 3 species. i would shoot for something like 1m/3f of each species and you should be safe, you might be better off with something like 1m/2f of each tho.

you will want to add some rocks large enough to make caves out of, they need to have places to hide if they get into a tussle.

also, have you thought about adding a pleco or anything else for algae control?

Shawnie

definitely lots of caves and rocks for hiding...it helps them a ton..heres a great link to check out different cookie cutters....a 60 gal is going to be fun african tank!
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/article...cutter_55g.php

cichlidsmad

do not mix species of the same genus together this will cause cross breeding and alot of fighting

Angela_96

For a 60g tank 3 groups is pretty much it. Anymore will wreck havac in your tank. The Tretocephalus and Marlieri are not malawi so they are not compatable.

For the rest:
Acei Cichlids - great fish, they get pretty big from psuedo group
Johanni Cichlids- super aggressive don't play well with others
Peacock Cichlid- non compatable with other mbuna on list
Zebra Cichlids- from met group cannot be mixed with kenyi
Demasoni Cichlids- psuedo group not compatable with most others not to be mixed with acei
Electric Yellow/Blue Cichlids= what electrics blue? There is a hap ahili which needs at least a 90g tank, then the other is a johanni.
Kenyi Cichlids- From the met group, super aggressive. For example my male in my 55g has took over 75% of the tank for his own. Don't mix with zebras or other mets

Out of what you listed I would go with Acei, Labs, and maybe look into some from cynatilapia afra groups (friendly colorful fish). I would do 1 male to 3+ females with no more than 17 in the tank. Lots of cover with rocks, sand substrate, lots of filitration, and no plecos the cichlids will eat the algae and kill plecos. I scrape all but the back glass with mine.

Also with the labs have you looked at a hongi red top? THey are super colorful you could put those in instead of the electric yellow labs.

For basic care they like hard high pH water, no salt, limestone or crushed coral in the tank as a buffer and will release minerals out they need, feed a ton of veggies, rotate types of food. Mine like romaine lettuce and zuchinni, spirulla flakes, and rotating color enhancing foods.

ooibhuskyoo

On DFS, they sell an Eco-Complete Cichlid substrate. Would this be good substrate to use besides crushed coral?

So, if I keep Lake Malawi only Cichlids I should be somewhat OK depending on what kinds I keep in there? Someone said I should only have about 3-4 different species and about 15-17 cichlids total in my 60 gallon, so should this be OK?

Sorry if I'm asking tons of questions. I know taking care of Cichlids is somewhat difficult, so I want to make sure I'm doing this right. By the way, I'm planning on using the Marineland C-530 canister filter for filtration. would that be good for them?

Thanks again,
Calvin

Angela_96

The eco-complete is great, expensive though. Thats why I always say crushed coral/sand it will save money and does the same stuff.

Yes that is correct 3 species would be better and that many is right for a 60g.

Canisters are great for cichlids, you might want to make a spray bar and ad a HOB filter to over filter and give more flow to the tank.

ooibhuskyoo

Sweet, now a few more questions! =D

1) What is a spray bar?

2) What other Malawi Cichlids can live together and are colorful?

Angela_96

Its just a pipe with holes in it to spread the flow from a canister filter, their are a ton of DIY ways to make them.

There are a ton of different c olor combos... the afras are bright colored and differnt varaties to choose from. Just one group from the afra though will work in one tank, then choose one species group from another such as lab, metriclima, psuedo, melochromus.

Just keeping with aggression levels and not mixing 2 species from the same group (i.e- met estrhere (red zebra) and met lombardi (kenyi) cannot be mixed and it goes on.

However a group of psuedo polits, afra hai reefs, red zebras do work.