Dwarf Cichlid for 40 gallon community?

[Akeath]

Does anyone have Dwarf Cichlid species they'd recommend in a community of small, peaceful long-finned tank mates?

Tank specs:
40 gallon breeder.
Current residents: 6 Corydoras Catfish, 1 Longfin Albino Bristlenose Pleco, 7 male Longfin Cherry Barbs, 7 Harlequin Rasboras, 3 Honey Gourami, 1 Nerite Snail, and a few Amano Shrimp.
11 dGH
7.4 pH
75 degrees
Smooth sand substrate
Heavily decorated with driftwood, sandstone, and caves as well as a variety of live and fake plants and a lot of floating plants.
Cycled since 2018, weekly water changes

I have a lot of long-finned fish so one of the top criteria is that the Cichlid will not fin nip, and is small enough that he won't see other tank mates as food. I'm hoping to have just a single Cichlid so I don't have to deal with breeding aggression. I'd rather the Cichlid be moderate to easy care and be able to tolerate the pH and hardness levels of my tap water. I've already kept Bolivian Rams for several years, and getting another of those for this tank is definitely a possibility, but I wanted to look into other Dwarf Cichlid options too.

At this stage I'm still compiling a list of possible Dwarf Cichlid species before going into in depth research on each one. But I've heard that Apistogramma (agassizii, cacatuoides, viejita, trifasciata, or hongsloi), Acaras, Kribs, and Keyhole Cichlids might be options to look into. If anyone has knowledge about any of those and can confirm whether they would work and which specific species I should look into I'd appreciate it. And of course I'm happy to hear any other types of Cichlids that could work in my community. I'm charmed by how intelligent and observant Cichlids are, and would really like to have a Dwarf Cichlid in this tank.

 

[Ellie Potts]

I kept a pair of cacatuoides in my 55 community and had great success with them. Although you may get more bang for your buck if you focus on having bigger shoals of your fish, rather than more fishes. Your corydoras and rasboras would certainly benefit from bigger groups.

 

[Stefan3289]

I do agree with what Ellie said, but I have experience with a few of the cichlids. Kribs are very pretty, but in my experience they are quite sensitive and also tend to hide quite a lot when I had them, so if you are looking for a more active fish, personally I would not go for this one. Acaras or electric blue acaras (EBAs being one of my favorite) I currently have one that’s in my 75 gallon cichlid/community tank and he is very peaceful except sometimes him and my severum get a bit mad at each other. They do well on their own, but get pretty big around 5-6” so I wouldn’t classify them as being a dwarf cichlid. The only other cichlid that you mentioned I know somewhat about are keyhole cichlids. They are peaceful and grow to around 3”, but from what I know I think they like to be a in a group and are also somewhat shy. Hopefully someone else can chime in but that’s at least my opinion. I think you could maybe look into “Rainbow cichlids.” I think they are one of the most peaceful South American cichlids, but I do not have a whole lot of knowledge on them so I would do a lot of research into them or if someone else has any experience.

 

[GaryE]

Acaras would cause a lot of trouble in there, and rainbows are rambunctious Central American Cichlids - not dwarfs.

Keyholes might work. But I would also add to the existing groups. Longfins are handicapped as swimmers, and a 40 breeder is a shallow tank. You already have 2 substrate loving species, and a third might be risky. If you go there, you want the really peaceful ones - Dicrossus filamentosus, keyholes or Apistogramma borellii.

 

[Byron]

Given the tank and other fish and the aquascape, this is a prime setting for Mikrogeophagus altispinosus, the Bolivian Ram. Note, not the common or blue ram (M. ramirezi) in any of its varieties, as this species needs much warmer water and the other fish like cories do not.

This species was first imported by Horst Linke and Wolfgang Staeck in 1985, and their reported habitat observations suggest that this species appears to live in solitude (individual fish alone) apart from reproduction periods (Linke & Staeck, 1994). Single fish are therefore good cichlids for a community aquarium. The fish remains in the lower third of the water column, spending most of its time browsing the substrate for bits of food.

I had a Bolivian Ram in my Amazon riverscape 115g 5-foot tank with nearly 200 small characins, pencilfish and cories, for 10 years which is pretty good for a fish with a normal life expectancy of 4 years. He was obviously at home. And he kept all the other fish in the tank in line, and they knew it. Never physically aggressive, but his dominant personality was obvious. A superb small cichlid in a peaceful community tank. I've had several Apistogramma, and checkerboards (2 or 3 different species), but they didn't compare to the Bolivian. Photo from 2008 shortly after I acquired him.

 

[Acorno]

There’s a non cichlid option that always has paid off for me. The American flag fish shows incredible intelligence every time I keep it. It also is very similar in appearance to a cichlid while staying nice and small. It does have a reputation as a fin nipper but in my experience that depends on the individual.

 

[Uberhoust]

There’s a non cichlid option that always has paid off for me. The American flag fish shows incredible intelligence every time I keep it.

I was looking at this thread to find ideas for non angel fish, cichlids but these fish seem interesting. The best part is I could do away with a heater by the sounds of it.