Newbie question

[just4kickx23]

Right now I have a 45g high which i have set up as a tetra community and basically im looking to add some color to my tank so I'm thinking about giving away my tetras and changing over to a cichlid tank. I know basically nothing about cichlids. My question is the only fish that i would like to keep are my 3 angels which I've had since they were tiny and now a pretty descent size, and also 2 plecos ill like to keep. I also have 2 dwarf fire red gouramis but i think im gonna give them up. I'm looking for some mild or must peaceful cichlids that will not bother my angels, im gonna post this in the SA forum also since the angels are SA but like i said i know basically nothing about the species so im gonna post in both. As of now my tank is pretty much has plenty of plants for the tetras, another question is if i can switch over am i gonna have to lessen the plants and get more rocks for the ciclids. Any advice would be appreciated, either way if i can switch or am just better off stayin with my tetras. Thanks

 

[Snowie]

Well first of all you already have 3 cichlids since angelfish are cichlids.

I wouldnt recomend any of the african cichlids (at least not from lake malawi and tanganyika) since they tend to be agressive. There are some more peacefull cichlids from south america but i'm afraid I dont know much about them.

 

[Never2Bknown]

Like snowie said, African cichlids can be very aggressive. They would kill your other fish. If you want to keep them, then I would go with a community tank rather than cichlids. There are some very colorful community fish out there, such as mollies, guppies, platies, and swordtails, just to name a few.

 

[yhbae]

Sounds like he(she?) is interested in SA cichlids. Besides, African drift lake species like hard water, won't be compatible with angels anyways... Most of the SA cichlids are still very aggressive though. How about a pair of german blue rams or kribs? They will add color to your tank, but during breeding time, they will also get quite aggressive.

45g high - is that a 3ft tank?

 

[just4kickx23]

thanks. Yeah 45 high is 36x24x12. I decided im gonna keep this tank as my tetra community and within the next few months do some more research and buy a bigger tank atleast 75g and do an african cichlid setup