When adding cichlids to tank..

[luvmyfish]

My fiance wants to put 3 cichlids in our tank.. (the ones that get to be 6 inches). But how would we add them. Buy them all and add them? Or add one and a couple weeks later another?
Well my main concern would be that then would they be aggressive towards eachother if we don't add them all at the same time?

 

[cichlidmaster]

luvmyfish,
If memory serves me this is a 20 gallon tank right?

Is this a twenty long or high. This would make a difference in the type and how many you could keep in it.

What kind of cichlids were you going to add? How big are they now?

The species, size would depend on whether to add them all or singley.

Is the tank fully cycled to house the 3 cichlids you are putting in?

These are some of the questions that really need answers before a legitamite answer can be given to your question.

Keep in mind folks, were talking cichlid here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lilslim321]

my friend put four in at once. he put two firemouth and two jack dempseys all in at once and they did ok. but like cichlid master said it depends on all the facts of size and cycled or not. good job larry

 

[luvmyfish]

We want to put 3 african cichlids in it. It is 20 gallons long. Its about a foot and a half tall and a 2 and a half wide. (guessing though) So, he has some in mind at a local store out here, but when that time comes we will have to figure out the rest. Currently we have 4 zebra danions in the tank and our betta also. Everything seems to be doing fine. We will find out soon enough.

 

[lilslim321]

do u plan on keeping the betta in there? cause if so it will rpolly get eaten after a while. well i wish u luck

 

[meeki]

Hey luvmyfish,

The 20glong are nice little tanks...but they do limit what you can put in them. Is this tankcycled? Your Danios will be fine as dithers..but I'd suggest removing the Betta. If your water is on the hard side..I'd go for some Tanganyikan Shellies..you could do more than three.

 

[semper fi]

i agree with all that larry said. there has to be some thought given before adding fish. also you can't just plop fish into the tank. i always quarantine fish, unless i get them from a reliable source and there is only one source that i know that is reliable. quarantining the fish, imo, is a good idea cause you could save the other fish that you have from the potential of getting disease. i always quarantine fish for atleast three weeks or so. if all is well, then i add him to other fish that i have.

maggie

 

[luvmyfish]

What do you mean? What is that? IS that keeping them in there own tank for 3 weeks?

 

[cichlidmaster]

That's exactly what that means...

If you were to put the three fish in the twenty, with no other fish for a 2-3 week period, this would count as a quarantine period.

After you are sure they are healthy, then you could add other fish to the tank.

Keep in mind however that cichlids are great for establishing territories and you may need to disrupt these when adding new fish.

 

[lilslim321]

ok i also went through the perid that luvmyfish(srry if i got name wrong) (lol) but my betta was destroyed but my danios are ok cause they are so darn fast. now i plopped the two i had into the tank and they did fine. i recently added a new dempsey and he is goin through the loner stages but as larry said it will get better and since the post i made it has a lil. now i suggest like maggie said if u dont know the fish are from a reliable source then quaretine them. but if u know they are then plop them in but yes most cichlids are terrotorial so provied some good hiding places for the fish so it will cut down on the aggression. i know now that i have good hiding places it has taken my aggrsssion down a few levels. well i hope i made this in time to help if not. i tried. well if u wanna talk more message me. well thanx and i hope i helped. i am gettin very wise on cichlids i will help all i can .