Beginner question... :)

julem35

I have fallen in LOVE with cichlids recently. I would LOOOOVE to own myself some, even if it is just a pair of dwarf cockatoos. I think that they are some of the prettiest anyway...

My question is this:
I have a 20-25 gallon that someone gave me and thought, hey, maybe I can put some there!!
What are your suggestions of cichlids I can put here?
Someone suggested (because I like dwarf cockatoos) That I should get a male-female pair of the dwaf cockatoo cichlids, 4 cories and 4-6 orange von rio flame tetras. Should I listen to this person or do you peoples have better ideas?

PS: I want to try a mouth brooding kind of cichlid if this helps any. Also, i would LOVE to have more than one type, alothough, this might not be possible...

Thanks in advance!!!!

mattfishgeek

shell dwellers would be a good idea. they are ideal for smaller aquariums and breed easily

Jakiebabie

'PS: I want to try a mouth brooding kind of cichlid if this helps any. Also, i would LOVE to have more than one type, alothough, this might not be possible..."

Well a couple of things comes to mind....One is that if you get to the point that you have a breeding pair, with babies... nothing else is safe in a 29 Gal, no place to hide!! I have a 75 G with lots of cover and when a fish is angry that someone is in their space, there is no way to get away. So you are looking at fish deaths of those harrassed.
2nd where are you going to put all those babies as they grow?
I set up a 45 gallon with "Rusties" and we eventually had the whole damn family hiding together behind the rocks... until one day we dismantled the tank to sell the fish and had over 40 in there all various sizes.
You would have thought the tank was a glass box of water and rocks.... until you got out the fish food!!! LOL

Seriously tho...if you truly want to breed a pair of something, set your tank up to reflect how they will defend their babies/area. They will be more at peace to spawn too. JMO

Byron

Agree with what has been posted. The space limitations of a 20-25g tank limit the type of cichlids. As will your water parameters which are not mentioned.

Hard water will be good for the shell dwellers, and they are small.

Soft water, or medium hard, will suit one of the South American dwarf cichlid species, such as the cockatoo you mention. A pair in a well-planted tank, with some corys and some upper fish would be nice. We have fish profiles, second tab from the left in the blue bar across the top, or if the name is exactly the same in posts it will be shaded and you can click on it to see that species' profile. The Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid is in our profiles; as it mentions there, a male with 2-3 females in a 24-inch tank (your 20-25g) is fine.

An upper "dither" fish is a good idea. The Flame Tetra would work, a group of 5-6 max in a 20g, in which case I would limit the cichlids to 3 max.

Byron.

julem35

I have been doing alot of research and have decided between a pair of cockatoo dwarf cichlids or a pair of kribs. Someone suggested a pair of rams, how do you all think that would work?

Thanks for a suggestion on the dithers. Some people have said rosy red minnows and others have also said white cloud minnows.

Byron

The minnows are cool water fish, whereas dwarf cichlids need higher (warm) temperatures so that is not a good mix. Almost any of the characins (tetra, hatchetfish, pencilfish) work well with Apistogramma.

I'm not sure if you're suggesting this, but mixing the cichlids is not good in so small a space. One of the species, up to you. All cichlids get feisty when spawning, which they will, and some have said the kribs are particularly so. The common Blue Ram can be very sensitive, but the Bolivian Ram is more adaptable. You can read about this in our profiles, click on the shaded name.

julem35

Thanks to everyone!! I have decided on the dwarf cockatoo and a school of 8 or 9 neon tetras.