Hi and welcome, Wildfire.
Great questions you have that we'll all learn from and I'm glad you care enough about your fish to ask.
Like mentioned tho, we have to know what cichlids you have before we can give an answer, unfortunately.
Can you let us know if they are New World or Old World? What was the name of the fish on the tanks you bought them from? Can you give us a peek at some pictures of them?
Anything at all can help. Sorry about all the questions back at you but we would love to help you and share your experience if you could try to answer them and help us help you.
cichlidmaster knows cichlids just by smell. I'm convinced of that! He should be called Aquaman intead! So between him, I and the other great people that have already responded to you, there's a whole lot of people with good info lined up to help you if you'd like.
Hope to hear from you soon.