cichlidfishes

I've always done community fish because they were easy but once I get a 36 gallon tank cycled I'm contemplating a cichlid tank. The only problem is I know nothing about cichlids. Maintenance wise are they a lot more work than your simple starters (tetras, gouramis, platies)? I can look up the sizes so I'm not too worried about selecting ones that will quickly overgrow a 36 gallon. I'm worried about cichlids being a lot more work or a whole new learning curve and killing them off due to errors while learning.

I currently have 1 pair if adult convicts in a 30 gallon wide breeder tank. I'm wondering if I could put another pair of cichlids in there with them. Or more like what other cichlids could coexist with my pair of convicts?

I got this fish about 3 years ago from a local pet store and he was listed simply as "african cichlid", lol. Later on I was told it was a red top zebra/afra - but I think not. I've had red tops before - and this guy is very different. He's a very dark purple-ish, navy blue, black-ish cichlid with a very robust body, structure, and head. Also, his color and scales are really matte colored when comparing him with other blue cichlids (like the blue hap is a HUGE contrast in terms of scale-shine). His top fin is black and tipped white until the end, where it transitions into a rust-type orange. His tail fin also has rusty-orange in it - but only as a sort of trim. Above the orange trim is a light blue trim (see all pics below and look carefully - if more are required it's very easy for me to get more for you). I have him with a yellow lab, a blood parrot (note: the parrot, the mystery fish, and the labido were all bought at the same time and were teeny tinies/fry), a maingano-or-johanni (((yet another question I want to ask on the forums - are they the friggin same or different? Many sites insist they're the same thing - yet others show the johanni female being yellow, and the female mainganos looking similar to their male counterparts. Some websites say the both the johanni and maingano are nearly identical as adult males. Other sites say the Johanni is blue with black striping, and the maingano is black with blue striping - and then other websites show pictures to the complete contrary!))), a clown loach, and an african frog XL. So my mystery fish: I thought he was a red top zebra - but now, after doing extensive research, I'm really doubting it. He's very dark - an almost-black-blue, with an extremely thick, robust body structure - and a dolphin type head. His stripes are usually near-invisible unless he's displaying aggression or dominance of some sort. The pictures make him look lighter colored than he is. Help! What the #%$& is he? His personality is also very different than the "average" red top zebra. My guy is only aggressive when it comes to his territory. Other than that, the blood parrot beats on him and even the pleco sometimes! BUT - due to his robust and frightening size plus their view of his visible teeth, they respond well to his "laws" - as he functions as the "fight-breaker-upper" in this tank: the policeman fish. Sooooo - what the #%$& is he?

Also - you can tell form the pics that he is getting his butt kicked lately. I have no idea what happened. He's apx 4 inches - the largest, most robust fish in my tank, yet the labido and parrot are kicking his ass! He was the ruler of their last tank - and since switching the labido and parrot just chase him and claim his spots. Arggg...


Pics under cut

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How quickly do each grow? They're teeny right now with plenty of hiding space from my other, much larger cichlids.

Would anyone like some fanwort for their tank? It's fast growing, extremely hardy, thrives in a wide variety of conditions, and will compete with algae for nutrients. If anyone is interested, it's $2 per bunch plus shipping via PayPal.

I have Malaysian Trumpet Snails that I can send with the fanwort too. Those are free.

Also available are hybrid baby African cichlids (half yellow lab and half ice blue zebra) that I bred myself, if anyone is thinking of starting or adding to a mbuna tank. $5 per fish, please. You can see them in the pic.

Leave a comment if you're interested :) Thanks for reading.

(X-posted to a couple places)

I have a question!

Recently my boyfriend and I built a 200 gallon tank. We want to have cichlids, but I've never had them before. I've always loved how they look but have been slightly turned off by how difficult people say it is to take care of them. So I guess what I really want to know is how warm I should keep the water, the kind of filtration, live sand as opposed to gravel etc.

Any help would be appreciated.
thank you in advance.

Is a tiger in my tank!

We moved the chichlid tank from my moms house to our house. It has been a week. Came home today and all the zebra cichlids, the cobalt blue, and a bumblebee fish were dead. The convicts, pleco, and oddly enough the parrot fish are all ok. Tested and found high nitrites and no ammonia - damn - I figure it was because we used well water and no conditioner? RIP guys...

Good day to you all. We've had probably about 400 Jack Dempsey babies, and want to ensure their survival into maturity. We have a 75 gallon tank and it is divided now by a screen separator with the female on one side and male on the other side. The babies are small enough that they can swim between the screen and the tank wall freely. I haven't noticed the parents eating them. They do move the babies around with their mouths, sucking them up and spitting them out again. The parents also chew up the food and spit it back out again for the babies to eat. Is there any type of food that is especially good for them to have right now? I'm thinking about freeze dried shrimp. Right now we just have them on pellets.

We've had hatchlings before, you see. Sadly, they would all get eaten. At first we had other fish in the tank and it took us a while to get them into another tank. The last time we had fish babies, we actually saw the parents eating them too. They weren't just moving them around, they were definitely eating them. I think it may have to do with the other fish that were in the tank, like a privacy issue. 

We have the male and female separated this time because the male had been attacking the female viciously shortly after the eggs were laid.

So, the baby fish are about 5 days old and their numbers don't seem to be shrinking drastically, but I'd like to have a successful batch of babies for once! I feel like a bad fish mom since they all got eaten last time!

Also, does anyone have any experience in breeding and selling fish to pet stores? I would love to get the skinny on that since I've never done it before.

:)

Any Advice?

I have a mexican spotted cichlid and a pink convict together in a tank. This morning I wake up and see that there are about a hundred babies swimming around in there with them! Now all the digging and moving of gravel around to make a big hole makes sense. I just didn't think they could even breed. Now that I have all these babies any advice on what to do and how to take care of them would be great! Also what types of cichlids can breed together which can't?

I think these babies are going to be really beautiful judging by what their parents look like.
So exciting!