Cichlid Care Info For 180 Gallon Tank

Hello, I have a 60gal aquarium, had weather loaches, tetras, neons, and live plants, well lightning struck my house and literally fried everything. I don't think I can get another loach, I loved my guy, could hand feed him and play with him with my hand.

At least the tank itself is fine, but everything else is gone. I'm going to have several months to learn and research before my house is livable again. I was thinking about getting cichlids, something totally different, no plants just complete 180 for freshwater. I know nothing about cichlids other then they are beautiful. Any good sites on their care, tank set up, any and all info, please, I want to use this time to learn and research, so when the house is fixed I know who to set up my tank properly then after cycling the tank I can start stocking. Thank you so much for your time.

Amanda

 

A big thing with cichlid stocking is don’t overstock, because they get so large they produce an insane amount of waste, the bigger they are the dirtier they are. Also no one I know of recommend mixin African cichlids and South American cichlids, they require vastly different water perameters. And if you decide to do African pick one lake to choose the fish from I don’t recommend mixing cichlids from different African lakes. If you decide on lake MalawI don’t mix mbuna cichlids with haps and peacock cichlids. A good forum that I found when looking for cichlid information is monster fish forum. But this forum have a lot of people here who are very experienced with keeping cichlids and other large fish. If you have any specific question just post a thread here and they will be answered.

 

A big thing with cichlid stocking is don’t overstock, because they get so large they produce an insane amount of waste, the bigger they are the dirtier they are. Also no one I know of recommend mixin African cichlids and South American cichlids, they require vastly different water perameters. And if you decide to do African pick one lake to choose the fish from I don’t recommend mixing cichlids from different African lakes. If you decide on lake MalawI don’t mix mbuna cichlids with haps and peacock cichlids. A good forum that I found when looking for cichlid information is monster fish forum. But this forum have a lot of people here who are very experienced with keeping cichlids and other large fish. If you have any specific question just post a thread here and they will be answered.

Most of the African Cichlids are about 5-8 inches, and you definitely want to overstock them to reduce aggression. Now South American, that’s different. I’d definitely go with Africans, Peacocks from lake MalawI to be exact.

 

Most of the African Cichlids are about 5-8 inches, and you definitely want to overstock them to reduce aggression. Now South American, that’s different. I’d definitely go with Africans, Peacocks from lake MalawI to be exact.

Thanks for correcting me I forgot that if you overstock they don’t establish territory and that cuts down on aggression. And yeah I would go with an all male display peacock tank.

 

Wow, I'm so glad I have a while to research, guess I'll start by finding out what kind I want first, I'll look up the peacocks. That's crazy to overstock but yea that makes sense can't est territory to defend. Thank you for a starting point.

 

Don't forget about the Dwarf Cichlids. Also definitely check out the Cichlids from Lake Tanganyika.

 

Wow, I'm so glad I have a while to research, guess I'll start by finding out what kind I want first, I'll look up the peacocks. That's crazy to overstock but yea that makes sense can't est territory to defend. Thank you for a starting point.

The word I like to use is actually overpopulate instead overstock. It’s not overstocked in a way that it’s just dirty, uncycled, and poor overall conditions. It’s just crowded, but not to where your fish are unhappy or uncomfortable. This theory actually works with any fish, it’s just particularly popular and effective with African Cichlids. For example, in a 55 gallon, 12-15 Peacocks will be fully stocked depending on filtration.

Someone who keeps large Cichlid tanks would be NavyChief20 . He may have some pointers.