Cichlids in 55 gallon aquarium?
by Aquaboy on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 | 5 Comments
what type of cichlids can i put into my 55 gallon aquarium
i want to make a community of them
i want alot of small nicelooking ones that will eat live food or will eat crickets or sumthing.
is it true that you cant put african cichlids with american cichlids?
Well Chris, if you want your aquarium to be a community cichlid aquarium I reccomend the Ram Cichlid, Cockatoo Cichlid, Dwarf flag Cichlid, and Kribensis Cichlid. But most larger cichlids are not community and will have some fights over space. If you do get larger cichlids you should consider geting a species tank with Firemouth Cichlids. They are great starter cichlids, very beutiful, and easy too breed. Considering yuor tank size, I think you should get 2 pairs of firemouths and let them breed so then you have alot of them and since they are siblings they will get along better.
Some african cichlids can go with american cichlids but normaly you can only mix the smaller ones.
you can, as most fishes these days have been bred to handle “common” water. I.E ph in the 7 range.
Unless you have wild caught africans, you can add them with american, But wild fishes cant handle the lower ph that american cichlids like.
For a 55 gallon, with peaceful cichlids that will eat live foods, try looking in central american cichlids. Fishes like jagur cichlids, texas, convicts, etc.. These are generally peaceful cichlids if you give them enough room, The texas maybe aggressive to the others when larger.
But for a 55 gallon, you cant go wrong wth only african, peacocks and mbumas.
oscars
lots of Cichlids put in a tank can look very good – and sometimes it is a good idea to keep large amount so they can divert the agressions. Just make sure you have a powerful filter and constant water change. Make sure they are about the same sizes so not one is getting pick on too much.
I don’t recommend mixing cichlids from different regions. I tried it with Malawi and Central American cichlids and it did not work out. I have Kenyi’s, Yellowfin Borleyi’s, Electric Yellow’s, Blue Johanni’s and a species I have yet to figure out that looks like desert army fatigues (the old ones not the digital cammies) in a 55 gal and they are fine together. Because they are so aggressive there are naturally fights but that is only to establish territory and none have died. They all will eat live blood worms but some are not supposed to and it can cause bloat since they are unable to digest them. The electric yellows are fine for it but if you want small cichlids with a lot of color you cant expect to feed them live food.