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I hear that there are some cichilids that are peaceful and can be placed into a community tank, is this true?

the majority of dawrf cichlids can be got away with in community tanks as long as they aren't breeding and they have plenty of space.
of the slightly larger american cichlids, keyholes are perfect community fish, and I keep a firemouth in my medium-sized community (tiger-barbs, gouramis, RTBS) without any problem at all. But you will need a bigger tank.
also rainbow cichlids, gymnotilapia multispinosa, and the sajica cichlid are supposed to be reasonably peaceful, but I can't be sure about that.
discus and angels are both cichlids, as is the UARU, which gets about6 10 iinches but has the tempaerament of a discus apparently. Again I have no experience with any of these except the firemouth and dwarfs

ya just about any dwarf will work in a community given the right amount of space. and dont just because they are small they dont deserve the respec that other cichlids get. these "darfs" will rip apart a fish just as fast if dropped in a very small tank with one.

Well I have a 46 gallon tank with a few tetras, 2 dwarf gourami, 2 red tail sharks and 1 algae eater. What cichlids would go with my tank?

you need to concider those sharks before adding more. i know you didnt ask for this info but i have to give it so i feel better. sharks dont get along with each other. they will kill each other eventually. not only that they now own the bottom as teritory and mayb forbid you from adding anything else thats a bottom dweller.

yup, before i new that about my sharks one went down. but dwarf cichlids and commmunity fish would be fine together but i would make sure each school has atleast 6 fish.



Last edited by BeastKeeper at 13-Jan-2005 13:20

Last edited by BeastKeeper at 13-Jan-2005 13:20

Last edited by jason_r_s at 14-Jan-2005 23:48

I just got the sharks last week, my hubby wanted them, should I take one back to the LFS. Also I have noticed that the algae eater is not too happy with the sharks and seems to have them on the run!!!!

yes, take back one shark

is your algea eater an actual algea eater or is it a pleco?

It's an algae eater.

the main problem in my tank is between the chinese algae eater and the RTBS. there's no violence but they flare and flick at each other. this is because they're quite genetically similar. so i'd take back the algae eater and one shark and get a smallish pleco like a rubbernose.
as for cichlids, in a tank that size with tera, you could keep almost any of the american dwarfs, like one of the apistogramas. Get a pair. or rams. My personal favourite dwarfs are nannacara anomala and laetacara curviceps. boith shold be fine though not all LFSs stock them.
for something bigger, try a keyhole cichlid or maybe maybe, iof your tetra are as big or fast as rummynoses, a single firemouth. My firemouth has been in with some old neons for almost a year now, and i expected him to eventually eat them but they're fine, he completely ignores them. That won't always happen though.

Thanks for the information. I had the algae eater for a few months so I can not take him back but I will take back one of the sharks.