Setting up a new 36 gal front bowed tank

Q&A about cichlids in community tanks

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smktr8
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:57 am
Location: Mass

Setting up a new 36 gal front bowed tank

Post by smktr8 »

I am looking to put a lot of color in are tank but am shy of setting up a saltwater tank. Right now I have the tank 36 gal a stand and a hood with the light a under ground filter. and a heater I am going to buy a whisper top filter also. I have crushed corol in the tank now and it is cloudy. What do I need to put in the tank like rocks, plants ,decor what do the Cichlids like and how many can I put in? Any help would be great.
Thanks
Chris
Pam Chin
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Post by Pam Chin »

Hi Chris,

Well I see a couple of potential problems. The first one is your requst for lots of color. That generally means cichlids from Lake Malawi, but your tank is going to be way to small to keep these cichlids. You would need a minimum of 55 gal, and I personally think that is too small. The second is that there are over 3000 cichlids to choose, from, of course we can narrow that down some because of the size of your tank, but that leaves us with Cichlids from several different places. Fish keeping is really a personal thing, as well as how you decorate your tank. I will say that I think doing a Biotope type tank; getting fish that are compatible, found in the same places in the wild, will be the best choice. These types of tanks are much more personal and fun. As far as decorations go, its what you like best, I personally love castles!! You can research the type of fish you want to keep and decorate your tank with some of the items they would have in the wild, such as gravel or sand substrate, lots of rocks, or a few rocks, even plants.

You need do some looking around, your size of tank is going to be best if you select dwarf cichlids, they are 3" max, so you can have a few more. Otherwise with your size of tank, you are only going to have room for about one or two fish.

Once you find some species that peak your interest, by all means come back here and we can talk about them.

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Pam
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