# Peaceful Cichlids?



## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

I am looking for some help in my decision about my 100 gallon tank. I really like the look of many of the cichlids and was thinking bout doing a tank of this nature. However I do not really enjoy watching fish fight with each other. It makes me nervous to watch and I am fearful that one will be hurt. What I am wanting to know is if I have any options for relatively peaceful Cichlids or if I should just start looking at another idea. I am considering rainbows as well. They are pretty and I am told they are more community friendly. 

Tank stats:
100 gallon
No substrate chosen yet, but would prefer gravel because it is quite tall and I cannot get all the way to the base, which would be required to clean sand properly. Gravel just seems much easier to car for all the way around. 
Rena Xp3 canister filter
Aqua Clear 70 HOB filter
2 300 watt heaters

Water from the tap is Ph 8.0 and hard, although I have no idea how hard as I have never tested this. 

I will choose substrate and decorations as soon as I have a solid idea what I want to put in the tank. 

Any feedback appreciated!


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## Dr_House (Aug 15, 2006)

If you're willing to sacrifice size, there are several choices I've enjoyed such as rams and keyholes or the ever-popular angel fish. Either should make for decent tankmates with rainbows. While your conditions are not ideal for these fish due to pH, most fish have been bred in great numbers and have become quite adaptable to a wide range of pH. 

I'm not sure if that's the type of answer you're looking for, but hopefully it's at least marginally helpful.


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2007)

I think South American cichlids like Angels, Rams, and Keyholes would be your best bet. Rams are small, but beautiful. Keyholes get a little bigger and Angels are a good size for a 100g tank. They are all cichlids and sometimes have little moments of aggression between themselves, but they shouldn't do any harm. They would get along well with Rainbows, schooling fish, Cories, loaches, or anything that is community friendly, so you'd have a mix.

If you are willing to skip the Rainbows, you could do a South American specific tank. Mixing is good though, since you'd get alot of color in there with the Rainbows. 

If you go with African Mbuna or Haps or Peaco-cks.....or even some Tanganyikan cichlids, you will see aggression. With the Tangs, they may not be aggressive enough to kill each other. The Mbuna would be more likely to do that. I believe that if you don't want to see them chasing or being aggressive towards each other, you may not want to go with Africans.

I know the larger SA/CA cichlids are pretty aggressive and you'd be limited to maybe a handful of them, depending on what you choose. I'm not sure what kind of aggression you'd see though.........I can only guess that it wouldn't be something you'd want.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

I am not really picky about adult size of fish other than to say I do not want anything that gets over a foot long unless it is a pleco (I am considering a Gibbicepts(sp?) because it will not get much longer than a foot). I think a number of small fish will look better than 3 or 4 large fish. Thanks for this feedback House! I had not considered that some of the smaller Cichlids (such as some of the rams) might be okay for a mixed community. 

Thank you


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

You have a hundred gallon tank. If you stick to small, less agressive cichlids such as those in Laetacara or dichrossus














, they will be plenty of territory for all and you will see pairs of fish chasing their neighbors back across invisible fencelines, not violent fighting. Of course you may not see the fish at all except at feeding time. Altum angels would be heavenly in a 100 gallon.







or you could try cichlids that school, such as cyps







and you will see jockeying for status in the school the same as if you had tetras. If you lived in the midwest, I'd tell you to go the Shedd and watch cichlids all day. If you lived in the southeast, i'd tell you to come to ACA in July. Truly peaceful fish are boring, its like watching cows. All the best non-cichlids (half-beaks, bettas, gouramis, killies) are also aggressive.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

I don't mind the chasing so much as the beating up. My zebra danios are not all that nice to each other, but it is also clear they are not out for death. That tank is much more active than my 20 ga tank in general. The 20 ga inhabitants do more "funny" things like play with the bubbles that come out of my filter. 

So I guess "Assertive" is good but "beating up agression" is what I seek to avoid.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Of the Malawi fish, small mbuna, like most Labidochromis and true psuedotropheau (Saulosi, demasoni) and Aulonocara would fit that criterion, Maylandia and Metriaclima (zebras), Melanochromis, Labeotropheous, Socolofi would not. But even the "wife-beaters" of this lake will not go beyond chasing with 20+ indiviudals and a huge pige of rocks in a 100 gallon tank. 

Of the tang. most julies, neolamprologus and cyps would meet your criteria, tropheus would not. Of the south americans, Angels, Discus, Acaras, some gymnogeophagus would, Cichla anything would not. Avoid all hybrids as they are not predictable. 

From the african rivers. True jewelfish (H. bimaculata) are mean SOBs, dwarf jewels (H. cristatus and h. lifililli) will chill with enough space but you may see some damgage. Some kribs are mild, others like to kill rivals (they leave non-kribs alone). 

You can keep other fish with cichlids, rainbow fish and goodied (both top-dwelling) are a good choices for Malawi tanks, cories and big schools of small tetra work for S. American tanks.


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Top to bottom: Hericthys Bocourti, Vieja Regani, and of couse, oscars.

All three are very impressive, beautiful, and peaceful fish. I have owned all of them and You could keep any one of them with another medium sized fish, and a pair of smaller ones. A nice setup for you, in my opinion, would be:
1x Vieja Regani/ H.Bocourti
1x Severum
2x Multispinosis or Sajica or Firemouths or Archocentrus Centrarchus

Look up the ones i havent got picture of, they are all lovely fish


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## Dr_House (Aug 15, 2006)

Glad to be of help, Obsidian.  I've never had oscars, or anything of any respectable size, so my 100 gallon is being devoted to a pair of oscars. However, if it weren't, I would stock with the following: 

- a very large school of silver hatchets for the top
- a very large school of columbian tetras for the middle (I hear great things about Beckford's Pencilfish, but I have no experience with them)
- a fairly small group of corydoras cats for the bottom (I hate bottom feeders, so I'd probably actually leave them out and put a lot of low-growing plants to fill the space instead, but most people just adore their cory cats lol)
- a *quality* pair of veiled angels (I love the altums, but from what I understand, they are incredibly demanding)

Something to keep in mind is that, to me, a tank which contains greater numbers of fewer species is more appealing than the other way around. In my opinion, these tanks feel more tranquil than a big ol' mess of fish swimming around like it's the end of the world, and for me the calming, aesthetic appeal of an aquarium is very important.

Something else to consider is what is available to you locally if the stores in your area won't special order for you or you don't want to order from the internet. 

Whatever way you decide to go with this tank, I'd lvoe to see pictures. Keep us posted with updates and any further questions. Good luck!


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Your gonna love the oscars, man. Once you go to fish of "considerable size", theres nothing like it. So much personality!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Oscars are very peaceful for huge cichlids, they have a bad rep. because people feed them goldfish, and they do eat anything that fits in their mouths (so no tetra schools with these guys). I would not give a few fish a whole 100 gallon when I could have a whole community of smaller fish, but thats a personal preference.


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## Guest (Nov 19, 2007)

Yesterday at work, A guy brought in a 10-12 inch oscar, a 10 inch tinfoil barb, and a 7 inch pleco. We put the oscar in a 120 with another oscar, and the oscar that was in that tank, ripped the other one to pieces, but we took the aggressor out in time. And the barb, we put in another 120, but it was attacked by the 8 inch red devil, so we moved it to a 100 with a bunch of silver dollars and a few sun cats, where it died...

I can only imagine that the one oscar attacked out of aggression because another ocasr came into it's territory, but I have no clue why the barb died, we moved it out of the RD's tank before the RD could do any damage, the thing didn't even have a scrath on it.


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## Dr_House (Aug 15, 2006)

I can't wait for that, Gourami Swami! I keep hearing how great they are, and I've always stopped to admire the adults when I've seen them in pet stores. I suspect one that I have has internal parasites since it is staying very thin and not growing in spite of the fact that it eats ravenously, but the other is fat and sassy and has probably grown a little less than an inch in the month I've had him. Anyway...back to the thread... 

fishbguy - Everything I've read about Oscars says that they are territorial and require large space, but usually not aggressive. The Oscar that throttled the other one in your store saw it as intruding in his territory, which is pretty typical behavior for most "non-aggressive" fish.


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## cocomania (Nov 16, 2007)

When ever i see oscars at my local lfs it looks like they all have their own part of the tank and will attack anything that steps onto his territory.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Can I mix Cichlids with things like Pleco's and Cory cats? My understanding is that the Cichlids need salt and the others do not do so well in salt. 

I am getting sand this weekend. Really... I swear! I can pick the playground sand up nice and cheap which is important to me right now. I will have to wash it out really carefully. That part will suck!


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## Guest (Nov 22, 2007)

I've never heard about cichlids needing salt....As long as the cichlids aren't too big, go for the cories and plecos....Even plecos, as long as they aren.t too small, should be okay with all cichlids...at the lfs I work at, we kee plecos with full grown oscars.


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## Guest (Nov 22, 2007)

Some people think or say that African cichlids need salt, but I don't believe that to be true. The Rift Lakes have some salt in them, but alot of the Africans you get nowadays aren't wild caught, so they are used to full freshwater.

I have not heard about SA/CA cichlids needing salt.

South American cichlids can be kept with other fish, if you choose Rams, Apistos, Angels, Discus, and other fish that won't eat small fish. There are probably some CA cichlids as well that can be kept with other, smaller fish, but I don't know enough about them to suggest any.

I'm sure Nelson will be by here to add to what I've said.


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

My method of washing playground sand was to pour it all in the tank, wait a half hour for it to settle in the water, then perform about 10 water changes untill the water is clear. Dont leave the filter running during the cleaning prcess btw.


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## Guest (Nov 23, 2007)

Obsidian said:


> Can I mix Cichlids with things like Pleco's and Cory cats? My understanding is that the Cichlids need salt and the others do not do so well in salt.
> 
> I am getting sand this weekend. Really... I swear! I can pick the playground sand up nice and cheap which is important to me right now. I will have to wash it out really carefully. That part will suck!



dont need to add anything to your water first of all. and DONT get play sand. WHAT A MESS!. call up a local sand supply, and ask if they have a coarse grain water filter sand. its GREAT and cheap. its not a mess. do it


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Please.... i so regret getting playground sand.... listen to mike here.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

yeah I am listening  I will get the water filter sand if i can find it. No one seems to be open today. The one I did get a hold of didn't even know what I was talking about. He said all anyone in town has is the concrete wash sand. But since he doesn't know what I am talking about I can't really take him at his word! Hopefully I can find it somewhere!


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Have you decided what fish you want to go with? Get something BIIIIIIIIIIIIIG!


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Heh, it won't be big swami :/ 

I like to look at a bunch of fish so it will be small to medium sized fish. I am going to see the cost of going with this list:

Synodontis Petricola catfish - a school of them
Lamprologus Multifaciatus- a small school of them
Eretmodis cyanostictus- 2 pairs
Cyprichromis Leptosoma Utina- A large school. 

I will also be getting at least one large pleco, possibly a gibbi. which has similar water needs so it is a good match and inexpensive. But I want to research more about these. I may get some of the smaller plecos as well but I am not sure. Mike suggested the Bristlnoses  I like those they are pretty cool. 

This list is compliments of GoodMike. Much gratitude goes out to him for his assistance 

I went in search of the sand with very little luck, so I am likely going to end up ordering something from online. Everyone has mortar sand and concrete mixing sand. The mortar sand was much nicer, but very light and fine so I think it would be hard to clean. No one has water filter sand- that I have found so far and a lot of places were closed. So I am looking at the "Carib Sea Rift Lake Authentic" gravel from Big Als. I could go to Phoenix but that is one expensive trip so I won't go there unless I am already going to be there for other reasons. 

Thats where I am at today, hopefully this weekend I can get some things done that will enable me to connect up my filter (such as punching a hole in the pack of my cabinet!)


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

BOOO!

Lol, im sure youll love what you got, those little tangs sure are cute. Much better than mbuna IMO. Try to get harems instead of schools though.


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