Generic Tank Sizes for Cichlids

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fishman09

fishman09

Piranha
MFK Member
Jul 11, 2011
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Centralia, WA
so i always see a ton of "will my fish fit in my tank" threads and so id thought id do like a rough guide for what sized fish could fit in what sized tank for the medium to larger growing ca/sa cichlids. also this with tank progression for those with large growing cichlids. this is for a solo cichlid in the tank and for pairs i would use the next sized tank like a 4" pair in a 40b and a 10" pair in a 120-125 and so on. this is a rough guide that i think provides fish with ideal living quarters at certain sizes without going crazy with super large tank sizes. feel free to critique as you see fit. :)

29g- up to 4"
40b- up to 6"
55g- up to 8"
75g- up to 10"
120- up to 12-13" this is the 48"x24"x24"
125- up to 14" this is the 72"x18" footprint
150- up to 15-16" this is the 60"x24" footprint
180- up to 16-18"
anything that gets over 20" like dovii or umbee full grown needs at least a 84"x30-36" as a minimum but really idealy a 96"x36" footprint for a minimum for a fish that size.
 
People keep 12" Midas in 48x18 with no problems. And 10" JDs in 48x12. But I mostly agree and I think everyone should provide their fish (no matter how small) with a tank as big as they can afford.
 
cacichlids said:
People keep 12" Midas in 48x18 with no problems. And 10" JDs in 48x12. But I mostly agree and I think everyone should provide their fish (no matter how small) with a tank as big as they can afford.
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12" in a 48x18 seems perfectly fine to me but a 10" fish in a 12" wide tank leaves 1" on either side to turn which i dont find ideal at all which is what i was shooting for not what people have gotten away with. the bigger the better
 
fishman09 said:
12" in a 48x18 seems perfectly fine to me but a 10" fish in a 12" wide tank leaves 1" on either side to turn which i dont find ideal at all which is what i was shooting for not what people have gotten away with. the bigger the better
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Not quite. That gives the fish 2" when sitting completely perpendicular to the front of the tank. When a fish turns, it curls up a bit (kind of like a bike does).

I'd say your post is an ok guideline, but a bit on the conservative side in my opinion.
 
seedubs1 said:
Not quite. That gives the fish 2" when sitting completely perpendicular to the front of the tank. When a fish turns, it curls up a bit (kind of like a bike does).

I'd say your post is an ok guideline, but a bit on the conservative side in my opinion.
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i said 1" on either side of the fish which adds up to the 2" your referring to. and yes its very conservative. i consider it the most comfortable "minimum" not just the smallest tank you can fit a fish into
 
i would never be mean enough to throw a 10" fish in a 12" wide tank
 
fishman09 said:
i agree my male umbee took up a 8'x30" tank all to himself. i have him now in a 125 but i could never imagine him in a 55 and being anything close to happy
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And if you give him a bigger tank, he will probably take it too. Does that mean he wasn't "happy" in the 8x30?

We have to understand that no matter how big a tank we provide, it's still a prison compared to the wild. I'm sure an adult male Umbee at 20" in the wild will patrol and defend a territory with a diameter of at least 30 feet, maybe way more... yet we still keep em. This is the reason why they try to attack you thru the glass... their territory is the whole room, not just the glass cage.
 
cacichlids said:
And if you give him a bigger tank, he will probably take it too. Does that mean he wasn't "happy" in the 8x30?

We have to understand that no matter how big a tank we provide, it's still a prison compared to the wild. I'm sure an adult male Umbee at 20" in the wild will patrol and defend a territory with a diameter of at least 30 feet, maybe way more... yet we still keep em. This is the reason why they try to attack you thru the glass... their territory is the whole room, not just the glass cage.
Click to expand...

i completely agree. but a 10" fish in a 12" wide tank still isnt right.
 
As a rule of thumb, I typically like to give fish 4" or more past the total length of the fish as the width of the tank.

And length to me is species specific. Some of the fast swimming predators (example dovii) need a pretty long tank to swim about, while more sedentary fish (example pleco) doesn't really need a really long tank.
 
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