a little unsure

[Chrisd123]

Hi
I have kept and bred numerous cichlids in the past but have been out of the hobby for a while. I have inherited a Juwel vision 180 ( 92x41x55 cm - L x W x H). I want to set up a cichlid community initially with a view to breeding as I will have spare tanks in the future. The tank will be heavily planted with lots of hidey holes, caves, wood etc. I am basically after a few ideas/suggestions regarding species. I am limited due to my location at the moment. My LFS has a few apisto's, jewels, acaras, severums, keyholes, discus, firemouths, geo's along with the usual species such as tetras, cory's , gouramis etc.

I would like to limit the species to particular areas/locations ie SA, CA and not mix. I would also like the species to be the smaller kind. What I would like is a busy tank with plenty of interactions as I like to study behaviour ( being a fisheries biologist - coldwater lol) Water quality is no issue as I am confident in that aspect. Basically I have a blank canvas and plenty of time. Your thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Mike Wise]

A lot depends on how complex the decor is. If you want apistos and want to breed then I would recommend only 1 species with no more than 6 fish. In such situations I usually suggest more than 2 males, so that the most dominant doesn't pick on only 1 subdominant male. If you only want a community, then I suggest choosing 5 or 6 males (no females) of different species with different body and fin shapes. You get interesting interaction without over aggression, like when trying to breed. If you want a combination of breeding and community with many cichlids, then I suggest a Malawi Mbuna tank.

 

[wethumbs]

The tank is quite talk so discus and angelfish would do well in it. If you use it to house Apistos, the top portion is 'wasted' unless you put some top schooling fish. Beside the complexity of the décor, you have to consider what temperature range you want to keep the tank at, how much and what type of filtration, would you use CO2 injection? Those are just some of the questions you need to answer to help you narrow down the list of fish that would work with the setup.