What’s suitable for a 45 gallon, anything?

[Shiny]

I have an empty 45 gallon tank being stored and I am wanting to set it up in my bedroom, I have two larger tanks (150 Gallon each) in the living room. I was hoping for some colorful, active fish and am wondering if there’s any African cichlids that would be suitable for a 45 gallon? It could be a temporary tank as one of my bigger tanks currently houses my baby koi until the pond is complete (next spring)

any input would be appreciated!

 

[JuiceBox52]

What is your hardness and PH levels? This will greatly help us with stocking suggestions!

 

[Retired Viking]

depending on your water (hard or soft) there are several small schooling fish that would be good.

 

[Barry Tetra]

I think Rams, malawi cichlid would be good.

 

[Essjay]

I think Rams, malawi cichlid would be good.

But not in the same tank as rams need soft water and Malawi cichlids need hard water.

 

[centrarchid]

I have kept Jewel Cichlids and Kribensis in such setups with extensive plantings. If water flow good then Buffaloheads are fun as well. I try to setup for pair formation and reproduction to make display more engaging. All three have really cool interactions between adults and fry.

My current tanks of similar size support breeding groups of Lyre-tailed Cichlids Neolamprologus brichardi or Spotted Juli Julidochromis marlieri. Both have lots of larger rocks. Populations quickly build up to 30 fish or more requiring lots of feeding and close attention to filtration. Former species is more obvious from a distance.

Really cool groups of Astatotilapia burtoni were really fun where there would be 20 or so fish and males would all hunker down in one corner to build nests and females would come in to spawn with them. These I would like to try again myself. The behavior I saw appears closer to natural than what is described in scientific literature where males maintain larger territories and nest are not close together.

 

[TheTenthDoctor]

I like xiphophorus maculatus personally. But beware they can breed quickly. You could try a 3 or 4 of them and maybe a school of 7-10 hemigrammus erythozonus