i have had cichla as small as an inch when they didnt even look like cichla in the past and i have never had a problem.. if you know how to take care of tricky fish and you match them in the right conditions you are fine.. if your a beginner or a moderate fish keeper and you dont know everything about water chemistry ect. goood luck to you.. it is important you read and read and read and do reasearch before you purchase these fish.. there are many factors to take into consideration that are so important and are over looked by most. first ... water quality is the most important... making sure everything is perfect and match there natural condidtions.. do some research on soft water fish and soft water chemistry. everyone just buys some cichla and dumps them in with there other fish that are in 8.0 ph water.. wrong wrong wrong ect Second...... tankmates... stress caused by tankmates can be fatal to young peas' or stress cichla. Third... DIET and Forth.... number three is just as important as number one