Peaceful midsize cichlids?

[esoxlucius]

It seems you are banging your head against a brick wall here. All suggestions are pretty much incompatible with your hard water. Some are borderline maybe, but why would you risk the fishes future health?

I'm going to throw something into the mix here, and I had to go through the whole thread to make sure they haven't already been suggested, which they haven't. Why don't you change continent completely and at least research some Africans?

 

[Something Fishy Here]

Good idea Esox, I haven't had much time to research lately, but That might be a good route to go, Duane mentioned something about rift lake cichlids, it's just a whole new territory I don't know much about but need to dive into. I'm used to seeing the African tanks full of mbuna or peacocks which isn't quite what I'm looking for but i know there's a lot more than those.

 

[Wharf]

Good idea Esox, I haven't had much time to research lately, but That might be a good route to go, Duane mentioned something about rift lake cichlids, it's just a whole new territory I don't know much about but need to dive into. I'm used to seeing the African tanks full of mbuna or peacocks which isn't quite what I'm looking for but i know there's a lot more than those.

Go Tangyanika...so many interesting species in that lake...btw those 3 x 4 foot tanks I was talking about were filled with Tropheus colonies...quite addictive, but I love them. Good luck!

 

[Something Fishy Here]

What about something like a giraffe cichlid as a centerpice with a few smaller peacocks or haps? Any thoughts?

 

[SalviniCichlidFan]

What about something like a giraffe cichlid as a centerpice with a few smaller peacocks or haps? Any thoughts?

Usually for African peacock/hap tanks, there isn't a "centerpiece fish" mostly because they all display vibrant colors. But anyways peacocks/haps in my experience aren't that aggressive so you can go with them as long as you have a decent sized tank.

 

[CANAMONSTER]

Yes
I was watching this thread and thinking, with an 8.2 pH, choices for this aquarium need to be thought out and researched carefully.
We probably should have been asking about water parameters much earlier.
And so. OP.....what are other water parameters?
Things like Total and Calcium hardness, even conductivity. You can find these on your water providers web site under "Drinking Water Quality results, or maybe even on your water bill
Although most fish as entities aresn't bothered by pH. or hardness
Certain bacteria thrive in a certain pH's, and some like the bacteria that causes chronic HITH are pH dependent, preferring pH at, or above 7.5.
So fish that have evolved in a soft water low pH environment often have little resistance to high pH hard water bacteria.
If it were me, I'd be looking at either moderate size Central Americans, like Amatitlania or Thorichthys, ......
or moderate sized rift lake Africans, there are hundreds of those species.
You should probably "Not" ...be looking at soft water South Americans like Uaru, Geophagus, chocolates or the like.
Its not the fish itself that needs to be adaptable, its whether or not the fish has resistance/immunity to the water type bacteria you have.
Spending millions of years adapting to waters, and the bacteria that evolved in pH below 7, does not bode well for them at pH 8.2.

This is very good information. I had a group of 7 temporalis in a 450g with very prestine water conditions but higher PH and o ce they got about 8-10 inch they all but one got HITH and died. I couldn't figure it out. This makes sense Duanes

 

[duanes]

Maybe, since your water is higher ph and hard....maybe some West Andes species. Are you sure you just don't want to keep the Stalsbergi or Saums? I mean one at 8-10 inches would be a nice centerpiece for a 4 foot tank. Fish 12 and over mae a 4 foot tank look much smaller than it is imho. Maybe somebody will chime in with some alternatives from that end of SA.

I know I'm late in the game with this response, very late, but the red hump Geo group, (steindachneri, pellegrini, and crassilabrus) are all from west of the Andes, in the fact crassilabrus is often found in waters with a pH of 8 and above in Panama, as is Andinoacar coerleopunctatus, which reaches a reasonable size for that tank.
I have kept two riverine variants of this Andinoacara species, both were caught in, and do well in hard, high pH water.

The variant above is from Central Panama, in the Chagres river system.
The one below is from more eastern Panama in the Bayano river system.

 

[LuSmith]

the all