kazepriest

Im looking for cichlids who come in a primary dark color like black dark blue or such Was thinking maybe a jack dempsey. Im not looking for a whale so some of the smaller ones that can go in a 55g tank please help.

Shawnie

in your other thread, you said 20 gal? did you get the 55 already?

kazepriest

My fault I noticed after that they get huge as well. Im looking for more dark colored fish with a bright spot on them kinda like oscars what ones look like that

kazepriest

Shawnie what is the darker fish in your sig.

Slug

Neetroplus nematopus, good luck finding them.

Herichthys cyanoguttatus, but its not much smaller then an oscar. Herichthys bartoni is my favorite.

Most fish, generally, don't show a lot of black. Black is a color used for stressed or fish that want to hide. Its going to be fairly tough finding exactly what you are looking for IMO. And there isn't much thats that much like an oscar.

In her avatar, that is 2 oscars.

Shawnie

as slug said, oscars...two very spoiled ones at that ...and I agree with slug..there isnt much like them goodluck tho!

kazepriest

I think Im gonna go with convicts I like jack dempsy and oscar look but I'm not trying to buy a 200 gallon tank. How are convict fish are they hardy fish?

Allie

Neets are so cool. We had gotten 20 fry off of someone a year and half ago. Everyone we know wanted them so we sold them off. I haven't seen them around since.
Blue eyes cichlids are brown and so fun. They are in the same family as convicts but not as mean, but I am sure they can be.
http://cichlidforum.com/profiles/species.php?id=136

Or you could do a species only with some Tropheus Dubosi, they eat only spirulina and algae tho. They can be pricey too.
http://cichlidforum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1862
There are all kinds of dark Tanganyika cichlids
http://cichlidforum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=15

kazepriest

Also im knew to these fish I always had gold fish so wich ones are really hardy

Allie

Most cichlids are pretty hardy. I find the dwarfs cicihlid are more sensitive than normal sized to larger...so good thing you are looking for those.

kazepriest

cool hardy like a goldfish or close because I kinda killed a few fish in the beginning . It kinda makes me mad when they die cuz I feel like its my fault

Allie

Hardier than goldfish from my experience. I've lost more goldies than cichlids.
I jumped into Malawi cichlid when 1st in the hobby. I had too many incompatible species in one tank. Lost one fish to aggression but for the most part they faired well. The weren't ever sick and when injured Melafix helped them bounce back fast. Those fish survived my learning to keep Malawis.
I have had over 20 betta since getting in the hobby...lost most of them for one reason or another. Betta are the opposite of hardy lol. I have lost 11-12 due to MY learning about QT and disinfecting tanks. Don't feel bad, unfortunately it's part of the hobby. Fish die due to mistakes that you don't even know you are doing.

kazepriest

ok cool also food wise is their a section for cichlids food or are they greedy and eat anything.

Allie

Haven't met a cichlid who wasn't a pig.
Yeah in your LFS food sections they should have the different varieties of food with cichlids on the container.
Some cichlids require more vegies and other more meat...it's all available in most lfs or pet stores. Just findo ut which one you want and get the food they need.

kazepriest

Ok ima going to the store and just wing it **** If they only made mini oscars

Allie

Don't just buy anything...if that's what you mean by wing it. Go see what they have, then write down the species. Research tehm then see what you can keep in your tank. Nothing worse than bringing home a species, b/c you think it's cool to look at then find out in a 6 months time it's going to be huge. Been there done that.

kazepriest

lol im really leaning towards a red devil