norine kushner

Not knowing cichlids I did something very stupid 9 fish in 15 gal. now have to start looking for bigger tank dont want to give any up.howbig a tank do i need? are all small right now can i wait a wile all seem to be getting along.

COBettaCouple

What type of cichlids did you get? I think you'll need at least a 55g, but probably bigger.

Trpimp147

55 is ok for 9 cichlids, i have 12 in a 75 gal and i can add about 15 more

Shawnie

depends on what kind of cichlids you have....following the 1 inch (full grown size) of fish per one gallon of water is great...but then you gotta take in body mass also...

Trpimp as an example, I have two oscars, and they are in a 75 gal..but they should be in a 100 or more ..im saving my pennies to upgrade!!

steveangela1

If you have african cichlids the one inch per gallon rule does not apply you can put 9 in a 30-55 gallon tank would be fine, if you got a 55 gallon tank your possibilites of adding more fish would be greater, you could go up to 15 african cichlids then.

If you are talking about oscars, get rid of all but one, and get at least a 75 gallon tank, they get huge......

any other cichlid I honestly couldn't tell you.

Shawnie

sometimes its very hard to get rid of a fish...and 15 africans in a 55 gal better be changing the water alot ..those buggers poo tons

norine kushner

thanks guys for all the info i dont have room for a bigger tank so i guess i will be getting rid of some fish i dont know maby i could go to a 30 would that do? they are african cichlids. how often should i be doing water changes for now?

Trpimp147

do a 50% water change a week should be fine and over filter your tank and clean each filter once every two weeks. thats what i do i have 12 cichlids from 1.5 inch to 3 inch in a 75 gal tank and i have 2 large plecos that are about 7 inch long each pooing things up. the one inch rule is good to go by but with cichlids you cant always go by that the less you have in the tank the aggrestion is high. if you add more the aggrestion rases but there is more fish to bother so thus they all calm down and will get less hurt due to there is more of them to attack... and also if you rerange tank when doing cleaning