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African butterflies are A. thomasi, I think.

I dunno if I'd skip Lake Tang altogether - given a good plant substrate, N. brevis would be safe with plants, since the only damage they do is digging them up and they don't dig well in gravel. But most plant tanks stay towards neutral or acidic, especially with CO2 addition, so if that's the case I'd stick with SA dwarfs.

-Molly
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You can have a ton of fun with apistos in a 120 gallon tank! If the only cichlid you want is apistos, you could get about 6 pairs (for pair brooders like borellis) or 2-3 harems for the harem breeders like cockatoo apistos. However, you could also mix up the smaller cichlids and replace a pair or harem unit with a pair of rams, bolivian rams, flag cichlids or keyhole cichlids...all would get along great with the apistos.

I'd consider adding a bristlenose pleco and/or otocinclus (get 5 or so - they're fun little plecos), you could add a school of cories (although since they're truly bottom dwellers you might want to use cories replace one pair/harem of apistos.

For mid/upper water, I'd look at tetras. You could get a school of hatchetfish or pencil fish for the upper water, and a school of cardinal tetras/black neons/whatever strikes your fancy for midlevel.

That would be a great tank with constant activity on all levels! Plus, with the smaller fish in the bigger tank, you'd get to see a ton of natural behavior.

I'm jealous!

Eric

Well I have decided throught careful research and I think the apistogramma family suits my fancy.
Does anyone have any suggestion on how many apistos i can keep in a 120g?
Any other recommendations tips?--plants?--driftwood?---rocks?---substrate?---lighting?(im thinking of actnic blue)---filter?(atm i have a via aqua 650 and planning to get a eheim2213)---
Since the apistogramma is going to be my primary fish, i was just wondering what other peaceful fish i can keep with them..mainly in the surface feeding regions and the bottom dwelling regions.

peace

A 4x2x2 is definitely a 120 gallon. I have one right next to me as I type this!

I can't think of any fish that haven't already been suggested to you. But honestly, if I had another 120 gallon that I wanted to plant, I'd be going for discus for sure! Of course, you have your reasons for wanting something different.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

No tank is too big for shelldwellers! A big tank just allows for a lot of them. In fact, in a big tank with small fish you can really get to see the ways they interact - colonies, family groups, and pairs all talking to each other, building territories, and having spats. It's great!

But, I understand if you want to go another way, of course.

-Molly
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I believe 4x2x2 is a 120 gallon actually, which means you'd keep a whole lot of fish. The brevis choice would have been good for a smaller tank, but I personally think its a big for shelldwellers. You might want to look into the neolamprologus family, or the list suggested by Little above.

To Inko-
err im just looking to aquascape for purely aethetic reasons. Plus I would like to take aquascaping more seriously because i spent the last 4 years keeping all the 'easy' type plants and would like to experiment with the more difficult plants.
4ft x 2ft x 2ft, i think its 55 gallons..not too sure, in Australia we use metric systems so. .

and eric- i said no to kribs

thanks all for the advice, grateful for ur wisdom
peace

Nodding in complete agreement.

Also, certain rockdwellers will leave a gravel substrate alone, so if you've got rockwork hidden among the plants that would be an interesting way to go. I think there are a few planted tanks with unexpected cichlids in the Your Tanks section at Cichlid Forum.

-Molly
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Molly - you're right about brevis --- they really don't dig much, and they're great fish.

Eric

I am going to buy another tank to aquascape, and i was just wondering what type of cichlids out there that do not eat plants?
Any suggestions?

peace

LittleMousling's list is great, but don't forget the Laetacara's - dorsigera and curviceps (the old flag cichlid). Truly dwarf acaras, and fine with plants.

Most neolamprologus dig, so they might unplant your tank for you. Julies might be OK, but liking high pH that would limit your plant options. I'd stay away from tang's or malawians.

Did you say yes or no to kribs? How about African butterlfy cichlids (can't recall the scientific name)?

Eric

There are a loooot of SA Dwarfs, though. Basically any fish of the "Apistogramma, Apistogrammoides, Biotecus, Crenicara, Dicrossus, Microgeophagus, Nannacara, and Taeniacara"* genera count as dwarves. There are a million apistos, and new ones all the time, so that might be a good way to go - if you pick a harem spawner where the females are also pretty, you can have a few of males and a lot of females. You can also mix apisto species if you keep just males or pairs that don't look anything alike.

*List borrowed from this great article because I could only have come up with a few of those names on my own!

[span class="edited"][Edited by LittleMousling 2004-08-28 13:20][/span]

-Molly
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there arn't many cichlids that can go with plants. i think most SA dwarfs are good with plants

Severums dont eat plants, I'm pretty sure. Are you going for a planted tank or a biotope? Theres not much cichlids that wont dig or tear up plants.
By 4', are you referring to a 55+?
Festivums and acaras are probably your better choices for your tank. Some types of gobies are good with plants, but are usually aggressive. I believe the pastel cichlid, Amphilophus alfari, are good with plants also.

If your going with just the simple plants, anubias, vals, hornwort, you can get a better selection of plants, and actually get some fish from the lakes (several types of africans).

You could probably go for fish from the neolamprologus genus, as they are interesting cichlids, don't take up much room (so you could have an entire colony), and they won't eat or attack plants.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Also, no angels discus rams or kribs, i want something different..
peace

well im getting a 4ft, which is roughly 200litres.
I am not too sure about the types but i mainly want colourful ones, the more colourful the better
peace

What type of cichlids are you looking for, African, South American, North or Central American? I'm sure there are plenty of cichlids that do not eat plants, you will have to help narrow the search down a little. Also, what size tank will you plant? Some cichlids won't fit in a 29 gallon, more so for a 10 gallon. Again, we will need some help here.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."