Cichlids in a community tank?

[breese31]

I don't trust my LFSs, is there a cichlid that will leave smaller fish alone? I have guppies, danios, and dwarf gouramis in a 55 gal tank.

[redlessi]

maybe a bolivian ram

[Shawnie]

depending on how many gourami's, angels or firemouths could work also ...but only if you have 1-2 DG's

[thorpbrian]

Blood parrots will generally work. They're a hybrid though, which some people don't like.

[critter_fritter79]

I loved my blood parrots! Sadly, I hadn't found fishlore yet and the day I bought them for my 75gallon tank, I also got 4 baby oscars. All went well for a while but the parrots were the first to start getting whooped on when the oscars started getting bigger. I rehomed them before they got injured. Sad, but I gave them to my local feed store. The manager is a very nice lady and put them in a tank with angels and a few DG. They have been in her tank for about 4 months now and doing great! Plus, I get to visit them whenever I want to!

[breese31]

I have two gouramis right now, I've heard the angel would be good but wondering if my guppies would be driving it crazy with fin nipping. Firemouths look interesting, would I be overdoing it by adding a firemouth and angel? I have 6 guppies, 2 long finned zebra danios, 2 dwarf gourami, 1 rapsobora hem, and a ghost shrimp.. Also, I have hard 7.4 pH, 78F water.

[Shawnie]

I think you could add 1 angel and 1 firemouth.......the ph is fine just acclimate them slowly ...the temp is great also my guppies dont bother my angels..if anything, the angels chase them but arent as quick as the guppies lol ...is your aquarium info correct? if so, I wouldnt get the angels or firemouths until the tank finishes cycling..angels are pretty sensitive to ammonia/ nitrites

[Tropical Aquarist]

I would recomend at least two angles. IF you got you PH down then the Ram cichlid would be great, but I have made the mistake of putting them in hard water and they die within a week.

[Nick Goody]

Kribs or any of the Apistos will work in a community tank.

[Shadowbeam]

Hey, was thinking about getting a ram cichlid but saw you mentioned they die in hard water, i was wondering how i can find out if i have hard or soft water? And if my water is hard is there any way to change/condition it?

[TedsTank]

Look into keyhole cichlids also....they are not very colorful but in my experiences are gentle. Angel fish as mentioned above would be good too and or Kribs..

With any of the cichlids....if you end up having a pair, and they want to spawn there will be some nipping going on at least

And I strongly recomend that you use NO chemicals to alter your water parameters(Ph). It's a full time job for water changes, to be sure your PH remains stable....and one big mistake on a major water change can be deadly....not good for a fun community tank.

Keep up your research and recomendations from the forum members and you will find a fish to fit your needs/wants without altering your water.

[Tropical Aquarist]

Yeah well Rams don't like high ph if your ph is stable though you could give them a try. Just bring your water to a fishstore and they should test it for you. Then you can know if Rams will work.

[Kivstev]

I've had success with Kribs, German Blue Rams, Bolivian Rams, and even an Elec Blue Jack Dempsey that was way too wimpy for my SA tank. The GBR's would sometimes chase him away.