My first cichlid question! :)

[juliethegr8t]

Well well well, this ought to make a few of you happy - I think all the talk about how wonderful cichlids are may have swayed me to "your side". They sound like such personable fish! Anyways, I may be getting a 20 gallon tank from Braddah, if all goes well with my mother and I find some money. I've done a little research, though not tons so tell me if I'm way off. It sounds to me like I can maybe get either a pair, or a few of one type of smaller cichlids to fit in this. 20 gallons is the largest I could ever convince my mom for while I'm living at home, but I'd really like to try my hand at a new kind of fish... and my 4th tank haha. So what kind of cichlids would fit? I have heard of shell dwellers, but gosh, I've never seen anything close to them around here and they seem pretty rare so I don't think I can get any... . I don't know if the cichlids around here are good quality at all, but I also don't know if I can pay shipping from the sites that have them - whew $20 somethin for shippin 2 fish is hard. So does anyone know a good, fair priced place they have found (US please!) Thanks for suggestions, I'm getting excited!

Edit: Forgot to mention that color is a plus if I can get any that are bright. I just loooove some of the fish I see on here that are blue and yellow, wow. (I realize I probably won't have too much selection, but I can hope right? hehe)

 

[Eelzor]

If colours are a plus, don't go for convicts. So far with my experience with them, they are aggressive, black and grey and for the fish keeper who wants to see gore. Convicts actually have a good looking layout, by that I mean the shape of the fish and all, but if you want the colours of the rainbow, convict would be scratched off the 'maybe' list.

 

[DerekN]

You can go to a local wal-mart and buy cichlids for $5.83 a piece. And convicts also come in pink too. Or also if you have a PetCo, or Petsmart if they even have fish. But most wal-marts should have some cichlids for that price, at least the one I work at does anyways and I order some specific types sometimes.

 

[craw]

you could get some nice yellow labs (labidochromis carealius (spelling?)) very bright and peaceful.Also another option could be psudotropheus acei,they are a bright purple with yellow fins. or even some salousi,johanni or lambardoi. all beautiful fish

craw

 

[juanveldez]

or you could get a few p. demasoni they are a little on the agressive side but they are small they only get to be around 3 inches or you could go SA and get a trio of Apistogramma species?

 

[Ginger]

Be careful buying from walmart I live in Salt Lake City. Utah
. And their fish are pretty sickly. Convicts are cool fish but they breed alot.

 

[mtdewlover]

Petsolutions.com has live delivery. I don't know how much they charge for delivery. Or look in the phone book for pet stores. We have a Petsmart, and Superpets where I live and they are good.

As for the fish part. I love red zebras. I have three and they are so much fun. They are brightly colored orange fish. They are a little fiesty. Also, I have yellow tailed violet cichlids. These guys are more peaceful. They are purple with yellow fins. Both of these fish cost me under 6 bucks. The yellow labs people are talking about are good too. They are peaceful fish and love to eat snails as we found out. Also blue zebras are good too. They are a solid blue. Those are the fish I have had experience with. I love them

 

[joshua]

if you're looking for dwarves such as apistos and rams (which have stunning colours) although they cant live in similar conditions to africans as they prefer acidic and soft water, much contrary to africans