Introducing A Cichlid

[lalford]

Right first of all since everyone talks in gallons can you tell me how many gallons my tank holds, its 36"x12"x18"?

Right in this tank i have 1 Bala Shark, 9 black neon tetras, 5 platties and 3 mollies, and an african clawed frog (soon to be re-housed).
What i want to know is which, if any, cichlids can i add to this tank. I know that most cichlids are territorial and can be aggressive, so is there any that would be happy and peaceful in my current set up?

 

[chrismr]

Right first of all since everyone talks in gallons can you tell me how many gallons my tank holds, its 36"x12"x18"?

Right in this tank i have 1 Bala Shark, 9 black neon tetras, 5 platties and 3 mollies, and an african clawed frog (soon to be re-housed).
What i want to know is which, if any, cichlids can i add to this tank. I know that most cichlids are territorial and can be aggressive, so is there any that would be happy and peaceful in my current set up?

You could have some dwarf cichlids I suppose, but if they become aggressive when spawning, the platies and mollies might take a beating...

Unless you try keyhole cichlids. They are about the most gentle cichlids out, but to get a pair you need to buy more than 2 and let them pair up on their own...

The bala shark will need re-homing to, by the way. That tank will just not be big enough for him when he grows up.

 

[CroNiC]

Surface area: 432sq.inches
Tank volume: 127.45 litres 33.65 gal(US) 28.04 gal(imp/UK)
Water volume: 127.45 litres 33.65 gal(US) 28.04 gal(imp/UK)

So that means u have a 33 gallon aquarium.
#1 - Those Bala Sharks would easily outgrow your tank. So i reccomend retrun them to the lkfs or re-home the sharks into another tank. If you want to make sure it goes to a good home you can use the buy and sell section.
#2 - If your tank is "well" planted withthe right paramteres, you can get a gorgeous and popular fish - German Blue Ram. It is a chiclid and 2 of them (male and female) should do absoultely fine in your tank. Make sure you have good hiding spots and lots of plants.
#3- Since you have 9 black neon tetras, you can go in for 9 neon tetras. Now there are 2 situtaions that happen when you 2 big shoals of these fish. Either they will become 1 shaol and that looks gorgeous. Or they will have their own shaols. However, when they have their own shoals it is very intresting Many times they will go through each other (the shaols will meet.) It is really wonderful to see this because they will stay together when they come out, and the mixture of colors will be real nice

Ofcourse if you want to go for tetras (like i suggested) or livebeares or catfish ... then there are a lot of choices but i see that you prefer a chiclid and i suggested one for you, and sp did chrismr. You can reasecrh on these but IMO i find the German Blue Ram prettier

Good Luck

 

[Durbkat]

Yes I aggree that when you have different types of schooling fish and they school together it looks awesome, in my 55g the long finned black widow tetras and the regular black widow tetras they school together sometimes and it looks really cool.