Cichlids - please advice me

Hello everyone,

Could I please ask you for some advice regarding stocking up a 64L freshwater fish tank with some cichlids? (See photo of the setup - it's cycling now)

We have been gifted a tank by someone who wasn't using it anymore and since we are at home all the time these days we thought it would be a cool project to take on. We have both kept fish in the past and have some experience but only with the common tetras/bettas/angel fish etc.
This is it https://www.interpet.co.uk/Products/Aquariums/Aquariums/Insight-LED-Aquarium-64L

Now my question is, could we put any dwarf cichlids in this 64L tank? We would like to keep it as species only if possible, I have been looking at Blue Rams and I kept in the past a pair in a community tank they seemed to be doing fine. I also like the Cockatoo Apistos so I am considering them too.

My main question is at this point how many can I keep as a species only fish tank?

Another question I have is, we are in London and the water is quite hard with a high PH(over 8)
Previously I kept a dwarf spotted puffer in a 5 gal tank and I always lowered the PH with the drift wood and some indian almond leaves. Would this work for a larger tank? Or it would be impossible to accomodate the cichlids needs?

Thank you,
ATV

As far as tank size goes, yes. Almost all dwarf cichlids will work. The tank isn't the issue with your desired fish, it is your water.

Remember pH and Hardness (GH) are two different things. Even though they go hand in hand under normal circumstances, they are different. GH is the real number that you want to look into.

While driftwood and almond leaves will help soften the water, it is best to take what you have and stock accordingly. You'll be fighting a battle that's hard to win and that water will fluctuate with every water change if is lowered drastically.

The other option is to lower the hardness at the source by either using reverse osmosis water or rain water.

I'd say rams are out of question with your water as is. They are sensitive and really need soft water. Some fish can live in almost any level of hardness.... rams are not one of them.

Maybe you can get away with apistos, but I'd rather wait to comment to see what others have to say.

What if you did some African cichlids? there are some shell dwellers and others that stay small. I have soft water, so I have zero experience with African Cichlids.

Metalhead88 said:

As far as tank size goes, yes. Almost all dwarf cichlids will work. The tank isn't the issue with your desired fish, it is your water.

Remember pH and Hardness (GH) are two different things. Even though they go hand in hand under normal circumstances, they are different. GH is the real number that you want to look into.

While driftwood and almond leaves will help soften the water, it is best to take what you have and stock accordingly. You'll be fighting a battle that's hard to win and that water will fluctuate with every water change if is lowered drastically.

The other option is to lower the hardness at the source by either using reverse osmosis water or rain water.

I'd say rams are out of question with your water as is. They are sensitive and really need soft water. Some fish can live in almost any level of hardness.... rams are not one of them.

Maybe you can get away with apistos, but I'd rather wait to comment to see what others have to say.

What if you did some African cichlids? there are some shell dwellers and others that stay small. I have soft water, so I have zero experience with African Cichlids.

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Thank you for the reply, it makes sense what you're saying about Rams and I wouldnt want to end up killing them after a water change. Rain water is out of question as we live in a flat and can't collect it anywhere.

I don't know much about cichlids and I am open to any species to be honest, Rams are the only ones I had some interaction with but this goes back over 12 years ago and tbh the water was very soft in the area where I was living then so I won't risk it now if they are sensitive to it!

It will help to have the actual tank dimensions. I tried to get them from the link but couldn't make sense of them, they must be including the stand.

Byron said:

It will help to have the actual tank dimensions. I tried to get them from the link but couldn't make sense of them, they must be including the stand.

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Hello! So I've just measuredit's 34cm x 27 cm x 59cm excluding the sand. The sand is 5cm deep so with it would be 39cm height?

There is actually a diagram with measurements in the link. They give the total tank size as 62 cm wide x 32 cm front to back x 44 cm tall (24.4 x 12.6 x 17.3 inches) They imply the height is just the tank but knowing tank manufacturers it probably includes the height of the lid as well.

To summarize, this is a 64 liter (18 gallon) tank with dimensions that are in the range of 60cm X 30cm X 30cm (24 x 12 x 12 inches). A cm or two doesn't matter, we have a good idea of the space.

With hard water (assuming London water) this means possibly shell dwellers from the rift lakes. Others more familiar with these fish can comment.

Depending upon the GH there might be options for Neotropical dwarf cichlids, but we need the exact GH.

@MissA.T.V Can you look on your water company's website for hardness, please. You need a number and the unit of measurement rather than some vague words. While large parts of the south east have water so hard it's been described as liquid rock, some parts have hardness less than this.

Assuming that your water hardness are suitable, here are some fish for hardwater:

1)Shell dweller cichlids.
These are smaller fish and not so aggressive African cichlids which are suitable for your tank size.
They are intelligent and interesting fish to watch.
But they are more expensive and not frequently found in the fish store.

Other African cichlids mostly require bigger tank and are more aggressive.

2)Guppies, Endlers.
They are easily found but I am not sure of their compatibility with the Shell dweller.

3)Platies.

4)Some Australian fish like Furcata Rainbows and probably also the Dwarf Rainbows.

Mollies might be too big for your tank.

Some videos:

essjay said:

@MissA.T.V Can you look on your water company's website for hardness, please. You need a number and the unit of measurement rather than some vague words. While large parts of the south east have water so hard it's been described as liquid rock, some parts have hardness less than this.

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Hello,

I have used an API GH&KH test kit to measure it and the results are: 16 drops needed to show GH (200-400ppm)
And for KH was 12 drops (140-200ppm)

Done the tests twice and same results so I guess its accurate?

Thank you everyone for the answers so far. The water parameters are as below
PH 7.6, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 40mm
GH 16?

Hopefully this helps for you to further advise me.

MissA.T.V said:

Thank you everyone for the answers so far. The water parameters are as below
PH 7.6, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 40mm
GH 16?

Hopefully this helps for you to further advise me.

Click to expand...

That is fairly hard water, so what I and others posted previously likely still stands. Hard water cichlids are the rift lake species, and the small tank size means maybe shell dwellers, but again I will leave that for the cichlid experts here.

Byron said:

That is fairly hard water, so what I and others posted previously likely still stands. Hard water cichlids are the rift lake species, and the small tank size means maybe shell dwellers, but again I will leave that for the cichlid experts here.

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Cheers Byron, I'm going to start looking into them do you think 4 would be ok for the size of the tank?

MissA.T.V said:

Cheers Byron, I'm going to start looking into them do you think 4 would be ok for the size of the tank?

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You need members with direct experience on these fish, something I don't have.

Thank you everyone who replied. In the end we went to the lfs and ended up buying 6 x Penguin tetras and 1 pair of baby Apistogramma cacatuoides which the fish keepers advised have hatched in tank using the local water and have been raised and kept in tanks with local tap water so they are used to its GH. So far we had them for three days and they are very energetic and eating non stop, so fingers crossed they will be okay.

We couldnt find shell dwellers at all and the tank wssnt set for them so will stick to the 6 Penguin tetras and the 1 pair of apistos.