Cali Cichlid

I have a male calI cichlid in a 20 gal that I took from a friend who was shutting his tank down , but I'm wondering if I could put him in my 55 gallon with my community fish ... he seems really docile... has anyone ever done this?

 

I'm getting several different results when searching "CalI cichlid". Some are African cichlids and some are American cichlids. Either way I've never heard the name calI cichlid so please post a picture of the fish, perhaps you use a different name than what I'm used to.

 

SalvinI chacamax

 

Well that's not a mouth brooding African so I haven't a clue on to how it will do in a community. The rule of thumb though is to keep large American cichlids with other large American cichlids. If your community has fish that will fit into his mouth then I wouldn't do it.

 

SalvinI are hiding fish that like to ambush smaller fish. Males can be quite aggressive, females may not seem aggressive, but they are ambush predators. I've never found a single in a tank to be an outgoing fish, they always seem to prefer hiding. I have seen them tear up a bigger fish that thought it could push the SalvinI around.

 

SalvinI are hiding fish that like to ambush smaller fish. Males can be quite aggressive, females may not seem aggressive, but they are ambush predators. I've never found a single in a tank to be an outgoing fish, they always seem to prefer hiding. I have seen them tear up a bigger fish that thought it could push the SalvinI around.

Dang... that explains why he is always hiding