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My son wants a 150-200L (River or lake)tank with some cichlids.
I have never kept them so i have no idea about cichlids, they all look really nice though.
Those somebody here have any idea what we could have in that tank?
we did some search and found these cichlids.
1) Red cockatoo cichlid
2) Orange Cockatoo
3) Black stripe dwarf
4) Panda dwarf
5) Double full red agassizi
6) Assorted Apistogramma
Please tell us which ones will be okey together and how many of each would you have?..thanks
Appreciate any answers.

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

That's ~40-50g or so...

The fish you have listed are all Apistogramma. They prefer softer water with a lower pH.

Number 1 and 2 on your list are color variations of the same fish, A. cacatuoides. Personally those are the only two I would keep together. I'm not sure if Apistos will cross-breed, but there still might be agression issues if you have more than one species in a tank.

Choose the type you like best and have access to. Add a school of some peaceful dither fish, tetras or maybe harlequins. A group of cories for the bottom.

I have cockatoos in a 10g and a 30g. The 30g is well-planted, has 4 large pieces of driftwood, and 3 terra cotta pots. There are currently 6 apistos...they were quite small (young) when I received them. At this point I can only positively sex 2 of them, which are males. When first added to the tank there was quite a bit of posturing and such between the males but once territories were established that ended.



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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

If you can find the species I'm about to recommend, I'd hunt it down high and low because it has a LOT of virtues and virtually no vices, making it an IDEAL beginner's Cichlid.

Anomalochromis thomasi is a West African riverine Cichlid that hails from relatively soft, acidic waters running through rainforests, but which is adaptable to a wide range of pH and hardness parameters. It has several plus points:

[1] It's probably the nearest you'll get to a truly 'pacifist' Cichlid;

[2] It's drop dead gorgeous in breeding colouration;

[3] It's hardy;

[4] When breeding, a pair make dependable parents;

[5] It won't take up much space because it's a fairly small Cichlid at 3 inches or so.

The only minus point is availability - here in the UK it's atrociously difficult to find, despite being FAR more suitable for most aquaria than many of the 'bread and butter' Cichlids in the trade. If you can find it, go for it. It'll be a LOT less troublesome than most other Cichlids, and it'll teach your son the basic principles of Cichlid management with a considerably reduced chance of experiencing the dark side of Cichlid keeping - namely internecine warfare and wholesale destruction of aquarium furnishings!

I had this species as a teenager. Only seen it once in thirty years after that, which given its multiplicity of virtues and almost complete absence of vices, is puzzling to put it mildly.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002