here's my deal, what do u guys think?

[prowler09]

I have a 55 gal tank sitting at my house w/ just a placo and a stump sittin in it. My 11" oscar just died last week. It really sucks, had him for over 8 years. He had hith when he was younger and I guess he just finally bit the dust.
Well, now I've got a whole tank to work with. If I had a big enough tank, I would get me a few oscars or jack dempseys..but i dont. I first thought to just turn it into a community tetra tank or something, but I really want to stick with cichlids. I would prefer having a bunch of smaller fish than having a few larger fish. At the time, I'm not too familiar with many other fish other than oscars and the few catfish i've had. What mild mannered cichlids would you recommend for a tank like this? I've been looking around of the forums a lot and have a few ideas, but I wanted to post up and see what people thought.

 

[oszy77]

Hi!

I have a small group of Pelvicachromis pulchers, of course they are much smaller, than oscars, but they are easy to keep and breed, so i recommend them. (sorry for my english, but I'm from Hungary)

Oszy77

 

[prowler09]

hey, thanx man. that site helped me out a good bit.

anyone else have anymore ideas??

 

[fatherof5]

Go with zebras

 

[oii]

Sounds like you're looking to set up a african community tank. Kenyi's.. peacocks.. stuff like that. Normally the fish I'm talking about are marked as "assorted cichlids." They're really bright and only grow 4-6" and are best kept in large groups. They are aggressive but(usually) not anything like the larger cichlids.

example..

 

[prowler09]

^^ yea after looking around a bit, i think thats what im going to do. my lfs used to have a bunch of fish marked 'assorted cichlids', now theyre all separated and named. i might be going with a with a lake malawi tank, still not sure yet. ill be redoing everything over xmas break. thanks for the input guys!

 

[oii]

I know if I were going to buy 20-30 of those little guys I wouldn't be buying them at any LFS. They charge like $6.99 for some really ugly babies around here and about $25 for some of the big ones. I'd probably wait around on craigslist and find somebody trying to get rid of their community tank and pick a whole bunch up for a small adoption fee. But then again you don't get the fun of going to the store and buying new ones all the time. I got a kennyi for $2.50 and 2 peacocks for $1.50 a piece though, I've just been randomly picking up ones that I like that are cheap. I'll have a full community tank soon too.