Cichlids question for 56 gallon?

[ChaosWolf]

just a question is there some bright color cichlids that would go good in a 56Gallon Planted Tank?Like a nice colorful variety? i haven`t looked into them yet so i was just curious i figured i would ask before checking into them because if not i`ll go looking at tetra's or something lol i just happened to see some very pretty ones at Pet solutions and was curious on them.

[ChaosWolf]

as i was looking was interesting in Blue Rams,Red Devils and Red & Black Blood Parrot Cichlid somthing bright like these? or let me know please.

or the Maingano Cichlids,Orange Blotched Zebra Cichlid,Duboisi Cichlid,O.B. Zebra Cichlid Wahh they all look so good haha xD anyways any help on what would go good in a 56 gallon n how many n such would be usefull.

[talldutchie]

haha, xD and lol.

African lake cichlids like the blotched zebra means your tank will not be planted for long. Blood parrots get pretty big.
South American ciclids like the blue ram work a lot better in a planted tank. West African species like the kribs also. Both will start breeding if you get a pair, set up a territory and start beating up anything that comes near, something to plan for.

If you want a crowded aquarium with brighly coloured fish then remove the plants and go for a Mbuna setup, http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_55g.php

Any cichlid requires a bit of your own research as well so I'd advice you to do more than just ask here.

[ChaosWolf]

omg mbuna set is so 0.o awesome!Sad thing is i got all these plants i just bought n added them in ._. so maybe the next tank that no one knows im saving for haha >.> (coughs) so basically a brightly colored tank of ciclids wouldnt work with a planted tank. ok so thank you then lol i`ll have to wait on getting a future tank n setting it up just for that 0.o because u just shown me something n i love it haha xD

[ChaosWolf]

oh for the krib one it says its peaceful on live fish sites dose that mean i can put them with dif types of fish? 0.o

[talldutchie]

haha. You could house a single male/female pair of kribs with other fish if there's room for that couple to set up a territory. So, territorial boundries are key, plants, pebbles, wood, whatever.

lol, xd and 0.o

[ChaosWolf]

yeah i wish i knew about these sooner to be honest i could of planned my tank dif for them ._. im going to try looking into a pair of cribs but im not sure my tank is umm 30" W x 18" D x 24" H so its more deep n wide then long but i have log in it so far lots of vals that im waiting to get thicker before i even stick anything in n was going to get soem sword plants too to fill it up more.im not sure if they would be ok in this or not ><

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Chaoschocobo/13645893926021_zps856c1e17.png
it looks like this but waiting on the vals to take all the way still Also please ingore the water pump i toke it out a while ago lol picture is a bit old already xD


Also do u know a good Site to order fish off of? i was looking at petsolutions and Dr.Foster And Smith. only reason is my petsmart and petco here kind of house fish badly XD

[Sandz]

Many fish would work in your tank that are cichlids. Multiple appistograma types, bolivian and the one you found, the German Blue Ram, Keyhole cichlids, the Kribs you are talking about are absolutely beautiful, and when you get them in breeding colors they are amazing. You can get a great mix of other schools to fill out your large mid section there and these s/a cichlids will do fine with other fish schools.

[talldutchie]

What's that big think in the right of the tank?

[ChaosWolf]

the Ghost angel fish i call it XD LOL its not a fish in the tank but when i take pictures it looks like theres n angelfish in there its CREEPY! XD but there is Currently no Fish in this tank its only half way threw being cycled and if ur talking about the Black thing its a Water circulator which i removed cause it was murdering the plants XD i swear it looks like the marble angelfish i had when i was a kid xD

[ChaosWolf]

omg German blue ram is so pretty! SAme with the Apistogramma 0.o omg i gota see if i can find any in stores around here if not i`ll be looking for them threw petsolutions and drsfosternsmiths ones 0.o anyways

OK so Far the ones i love are:
German Blue Ram - my fav 0.o
Apistogramma
Kribs

So if i focus on these how many should i get in my tank? should it just be a couple pairs? and any recomanded Other Types of fish that would really make this tank shine XD you guys are so very helpful n its letting me know what i should be looking into.

[talldutchie]

What's with the XD and the 0.o?

OF these three the krib is probably the easiest. Apistos really do best with more cover and leaf litter. Rams are somewhere in the middle.

It's all fairly common species, was in my local today, they had blue and normal rams and three kinds of apistos.

I'd say start with a pair and supplement with 10 of an easy and a bit robust schooling species. Black neons for example.

[Sandz]

Talldutchie - those remarks are common american texting forms meaning excited and googly eyed...

Make sure If you decide on an appistogramma that you get a tank raised one, not a wild one. I guess same goes for all species. They are much easier to care for. Also do some research on types. Appistograma have many forms, most common is Borreli and Cockatoo.

[ChaosWolf]

im sorry its a bad habit thats very very hard to break its acutaly from my mmorpg gameing days so umm ur welcome to ingore those.....
im going to go check out my pet store called "the Ark" they uslay have a very good fish supply and see if they happen to have what i need if not i`ll probly just be ordering them online Once my tank is fully cycled atm im waiting on nitrite stage the ammonia i wake up to 0 everyday so i been doing 2ppm daily which is half what i started with.
Is there any books that u could recomand for research? or should i just look threw web?
Also i was hopeing to add in some more plants like swords because i have x2 6700k lighting for my vals so i figured some swords would be ok n offer some more cover and im ether getting some hornwort or duck weed to block the light more over the java's on the log.Also is there is any beginner plants that go good with these let me know thought i can look for them to add in?

kk i`ll start with a pair then once its ready.I`ll look at what kind of schooling fish the only problem with black neon my mom sits there n complains about them. All i hear is "why do u have to like the black fish why not more colorful" i was acutaly looking at these in the petstore last n thats all i heard lol

[Sandz]

You dont have to stick to Black Neons. Celestial Pearl Danio's (aka galaxy rasbora) are cool, Cardinal Tetra, An angelfish would do well in that tank, There are lots of appropriate stockings out there.

I would watch how much ammonia you are dosing. If you read the fishless cycle post.. you need to wait til ammonia goes all the way through the cycle before adding more and thats only supposed to be around 1ppm. To much ammonia can stall the cycle. Also with your plants it may be harder to judge. You need to successfully churn through 2ppm of ammonia in a 24hr period to consider cycled. The reading are going to be like 0 0 40 or around there. You do a water change and add the fish.

[talldutchie]

Talldutchie - those remarks are common american texting forms meaning excited and googly eyed...


AHA!! Thanks for that.

[talldutchie]

You dont have to stick to Black Neons. Celestial Pearl Danio's (aka galaxy rasbora) are cool, Cardinal Tetra, An angelfish would do well in that tank, There are lots of appropriate stockings out there.

.

Disagree with you twice. CPD are a bit smallish around kribs in my opinion, too close to snack size.
A single angel would work, I would really not recommend a newbie to have two potentially breeding species of cichlids in the same tank.

Books... I'm sure there are. http://www.seriouslyfish.com/ is better than the fish encyclopedia we had in the 1980s and 1990s.

@chaoswolf: Black neons were just the first thing that came to mind. Any number of schooling species would work. Rummynose, cardinals

I wanted to check the stock of your store but it seems to be staffed by a bunch of xenophobes who have blacklisted my whole country and I really can't be bothered to deal with that now.

[Sandz]

Welcome on the texting notes... but here me out here:

I have raised and bred Kribensis for well over 15 years.. CPDs are not a food source, at most fish fry are a food source for Kribs. They arent aggressive hunters and if left as a solo male or female will be a very peaceful community addition. They will defend territory and fry but will not spark out against others unless they feel invaded. Any schooling species in my opinion is safe with these fish. Specifically any type of danio is not only able boddied enough, but is fast enough to avoid any major wrath coming from a kribensis looking to drive out invasive fish.

On angels, I never mentioned a pair, I stated an angelfish, singular. In a 56 gallon tank its absolutely feasible to attain multiple but not something I would outright recommend. On that note, I have never recommended anything breeding because outside of the fact that the fish will be more aggressive, you add problems with fry care. The only person to suggest pairs was yourself (atleast counting the advice from each of us).

OP what would you like to see in your tank? Are you partial to other schooling fish?

[Sandz]

On a side note... the Ark looks really nice. They dont have an online stock list but stock discus and saltwater so I assume they would have many peaceful dwarf cichlids for the offering. Looks like a cool place.

[talldutchie]

Welcome on the texting notes... but here me out here:

I have raised and bred Kribensis for well over 15 years.. CPDs are not a food source, at most fish fry are a food source for Kribs. They arent aggressive hunters and if left as a solo male or female will be a very peaceful community addition. They will defend territory and fry but will not spark out against others unless they feel invaded. Any schooling species in my opinion is safe with these fish. Specifically any type of danio is not only able boddied enough, but is fast enough to avoid any major wrath coming from a kribensis looking to drive out invasive fish.


OK, I'll defer to your knowledge. I have seen kribs take half grown guppies and wanted to be safe.


On angels, I never mentioned a pair, I stated an angelfish, singular. In a 56 gallon tank its absolutely feasible to attain multiple but not something I would outright recommend. On that note, I have never recommended anything breeding because outside of the fact that the fish will be more aggressive, you add problems with fry care. The only person to suggest pairs was yourself (atleast counting the advice from each of us).

?

I wasn't entirely sure and wanted to make sure OP didn't leap into anything foolish.
I suggested a pair because it seemed OP was looking for something lively.

[ChaosWolf]

im going to go to fish store tomorrow n see what they have to know what to plan for i will read over that site when i get a chance thank you so much n also since im new to these i don`t know if i should really be looking into a breeding pair if i don`t get a male a female would 2 males be ok? for ciclids or should i be looking for more then 2? im so confused now lol but the general knowledge of all the types of fish i could add with them is helping alot. i do have 1 question thought would a couple cories be ok? my dad loves cories and he keeps wanting to stick them in already..He dosen`t understand cycling a fish tank because he used to have them n never did such a thing but from what he telling me it sounds like he mainly had hardy fish.

And yeah i love The Ark its such a very very nice store its where i get my plants for my tank so far and they have such a nice stock of fish and salt water ones too are just so pretty! they made like a big cove with salt water in it which they don`t sell but display its so pretty xD I would love to do a salt one tank in the future but atm i could never afford a nice big one at the moment.

Compared to Pet Smart and Pet Co it dosen`t have that huge chain of overstocked overbreed n half the time sick it seems like to many floating fish when i vist those 2 places.

if i can i would love to start off with the German Blue Rams or well we will see i`ll let u guys know what i can find there tomorrow.

[Sandz]

Ok seems you are set on GBR's. Lets narrow this down a bit. You have 56 gallon pretty cubic floor for this tank. Get 1 GBR and only 1. Pick out your favorite cory species and get 10. GBR will have no issues on the issues talldutchie and I are talking about on the aggression. I still agree that celestial pearl danios or cardinals make an excellent addition to the tank and same with a small angel. I specify small because it will allow you to get it raised up with the other fish in the tank.

Do NOT get two males of any cichlid. At least while you are starting out. You can be soured quickly by two males that fight to the death.

Take pictures when you go. I would love to see the store.

[ChaosWolf]

ok i`ll bring my kindle when i go then to take pictures. um isn`t 10 cories to many? i was thinking about only 4-6 of those and i do like the look of the celestial pearl danios but i don`t think i ever seen them around here but i have seen the cardianl tetra's alot.now for Angels i have a hard time finding them but i can look n maybe find a small one.Uslay when i do find them they are huge n old thought.but i`ll keep n eye out for one.Also dose that mean theres just going to be One Cichlid in tank as end result then?

[talldutchie]

A 56g has quite a lot of floor space. 10 cories should be possible.

[Sandz]

10 corries is fine as Talldutchie said. They are a schooling species and need to be in groups. You have the real estate for it.

I would be befudled if a shop like the Ark didnt have 5 different kinds of dime sized angels... but I have been wrong about stores before.

Also.. im giving suggestions... dont let me plan your tank for you. If you do some research and find some cool fish you like, lets talk about them and their potential for your tank. There are a lot of options out there.

Oh also, on the One cichlid thing... if you had an angel and a GBR you would have two. The cichlid world is a weird one... They school in large schools to mitigate aggression... GBRs can be found in the 100s... But when they pair off... they defend their little territory hard! In the wild you can see schools of all kinds of cichlids... but overall they are ok on their own as well. Lets work on your 56 gallons and stock light and let it grow. This is a multiyear thing... lets take time getting it set up.

[ChaosWolf]

when i went to ark last time i was only looking for Rainbow Fish but i could only find females n a sad looking male so i started looking into other fish n thats when i found out about cichlids xD and well for angelfish i have only looked at petsmart,petco and Alship but uslay petsmart n petco don`t have them n alship has older ones. The Ark i only have been to once because i never knew about it and a employee in petsmart recommended it hehe.Well snice i have no experience with cichlids all the help n ideas are welcome by telling me which type of fish i can base it around that to figure how to do my tank and well with 10 cory my dad is going to be supppppeeerrr happy haha! Also i haven`t had a tank snice i was a kid n well i told u about my dad so i had alot of dead fishies n gave up on it and this time i found this tank and want to do it right so i found out about cycling so hopefuly no dead fish like my childhood days...So you guys are a very big help to me.

and ok little by little understood!

[Sandz]

Well great! And I think you are going to be very happy with this tank. Can we get a clearer picture of it? Try taking it at an angle and close the blinds.

Even with a fishless cycle I like to let a tank grow into its full potential even though you could technically drop all fish in at once.

[ChaosWolf]

the only thing that bugs me if the water is brownish but its from the log ._. i rised it off n changed the water when i was soaking that log so much n it still turned my water in take I had it in a bucket for 3 days with water i dumpped the water out n rissed it off around 4x daily. oh well hopefuly it will improve with time.
Ok heres the pictures for you n Also i only have a kindle to take pictures with so im trying my best.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Chaoschocobo/1365284401851_zpsffdc4cd2.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Chaoschocobo/1365284426137_zps2c55b98e.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Chaoschocobo/1365284441876_zpsf6643b1e.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Chaoschocobo/1365284457978_zps1e115bed.png

Hope these are better!

[Sandz]

Very cool! Yeah that log will leech for a good while. It took one of mine 5-6 months before it quit! Like the overall look. Also the tanic enviroment will be nice for any amazonian fish you end up with.

[ChaosWolf]

well i still feel it needs some more plants thought because well i accidently bought some mondo grass it was labled "kyoto" or w/e n well it kept dieing and then for some reason my huge hairgrass died too so it feels more empty now so when i go look at fishes i`ll look at plants too tomorrow hehe xD

[ChaosWolf]

http://arkpetshop.com/ this is the site to the place btw it shows a picture of the salt water fish for sale but the freshwater side it bigger then that

[ChaosWolf]

ok went The Ark today and well i forgot my kindle my grandma had to go to hopsital this morning because she had a procedure n well she was in pain badly toke here then n they said everything looked fine so then i toke her back home n then drove to ark and in all that if forgot kindle to take pictures! ._. I bought 2 amazon swords and some huge sword i gota look up what type but now it provides the shade for my java some so i might be able to get away without no floaters above them for shade xD i also found so java moss!! i been looking for this n they just got the clipping from it to grow! so im extermly happy Also they didn`t have any German Blue Rams in at the moment only some balloon looking ones.But they do stock them so i`ll just keep checking in on them gota love phones! I`ll take some pictures once i look up how to attach moss to wood

[ChaosWolf]

just a random question is came into my head last night i know u said 2 males can`t be kept together but what about the females?

[ChaosWolf]

OK this is going to look so awsome once my vals start growing n grass n mos sn everything! once it all takes completely n grows its going to look great hehe heres pictures!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Chaoschocobo/1365366197927_zpse8b128da.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Chaoschocobo/1365366216719_zpse3c40592.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Chaoschocobo/1365366232257_zpsd9e74f23.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Chaoschocobo/1365366246693_zpsd708c226.png


(ingore my hair in the 3rd one haha always hard to take pictures with a 1 way xD)

[ChaosWolf]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Chaoschocobo/1365366263389_zps39917366.png

[ChaosWolf]

just a question i noticed it says GBR's arn`t to hardy? being that its a newer tank should i maybe look into krib instead? i noticed a few of these at "the Ark" just curious?

[Sandz]

It really seems like this tank is aging well and the tannins from the driftwood will help the water for the ram. I think you will be fine to have the ram as the tank looks to have age too it. Just stock slower than usual and let everything catch up week after weeks.

Im sorry to hear about your Gramma. Hope all is fine there.

Also great pics and I agree, as everything ages we will see a geat growth in this tank.

[ChaosWolf]

my dad did that! hes like a little kid remind me to never tell him when a tank is ready!He brings me 10 red minor and 2 sad little harquil which is way to much to start but my ammonia/nitrite/nitrate are sticking to 0 n its been 4 days now! Also i kind of been debating now i like the German Blue Rams but i seen a couple very very pretty yellow aprisogramma's so now im like 50/50 both ways lol.

[Sandz]

Make sure you check your ammonia nitrite and nitrate while the fish are aclimating. Watch for spikes and change water accordingly.

Either way the fish you choose will be fine im sure. There are a lot of cool options.

[ChaosWolf]

i been checking it twice a day for the last 4 days it has stayed stable at 0's so far so good also am i checking it to much?

[Sandz]

No you are doing just fine.

[ChaosWolf]

ok ^^ also is Apistogramma's i noticed when i was doing research on them it says 1 male to every 3 females? n gbr are pairs? is this correct? Also they had very nice looking females of the apistogramma can the females go together in a group? or will they fight alot? if i don`t get a male?

Also sorry if im asking a million questions xD

[Sandz]

Appistogramma are harem breeders. They can have multiple females to 1 male much like african rift lake cichlids. Rams are a pair only fish.

[ChaosWolf]

so if i get apistogramma's dose that mean i would be ok with a couple females and no males? or are the happier with a male in the bunch?

[Sandz]

Females are fine without a male if you so choose.

[ChaosWolf]

ohh thats perfect then i`ll start looking into what i can find. I went to the ark today agian after a driving job they had this beautiful yellow Ram i stared at it n debated on it but said no to myself i gota get my ph down more before i buy any.