# New tank help



## chrisfjr83 (Jan 8, 2009)

I am getting ready to setup a new tank and trying to learn a little bit about these fish. i like the looks of them and I also understand what type of water that they like but I am wanting to know if a planted Cichlid tank is a good idea or should I go more rocky? It is going to be a 60 gal tank so a pretty good sized tank for some smaller Cichlid.

i current have a 20 gallon setup that I raising mollies and platies in that are going to be feeder fish since they keep reproducing like crazy and I have a few plants in there and I just like the look of the planted tank better. Any suggestion would be great. Thanks!


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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

how tall is your tank? If it is over 18 inches tall, then you can have angels and discus. i am also pretty sure you could you could get 1 Oscar. You could go with almost any cichlid you wanted. What are you interested in? This would help in picking the best cichlid for you.

Hope this helps


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## chrisfjr83 (Jan 8, 2009)

I am also torn as to what kind of substrate to use on Cichlids. I know that there is Cichlid substrate and there is plant substrate. Is there one that can be used for both types of fish?


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## chrisfjr83 (Jan 8, 2009)

As to what kind I am not really sure at this time. I am wanting to get some thing that is going to be good to use with live plants as well. I know they are more of a rocky not so much vegetation but is there any that would be good with a planted take. I am wanting to get very colorful fish as well and I know that you can find very colorful cichlids.


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## Eraserhead (Feb 1, 2007)

Cichlids tend to like rocks quite a bit. They also like to chew on/rip/destroy plants sometimes, I've never had good luck with it, but I know people who have. If you are just getting in to the cichlid hobby and have a 60g tank, don't waste all that space on an Oscar. I've found that starting out with Africans is pretty fun. Oscars are great fish, but they're super filthy and demanding. Plants can do well in most substrates, though I am not sure how well they thrive in sand- might be too easy to yank out. There is crushed coral which makes a good cichlid substrate (make sure you wash it really well though- makes the water cloudy otherwise). Many places sell substrates specifically for cichlids as well.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

There are cichlids that do fine in planted tanks. Most of them are south american fish that like soft water. African lake cichlids need hard water and cichlid substrate helps with that. Look at cichlid-forum.com profiles. Look around and see what cichlids are availible to you and we will tell you what they need.

Kribs are good choice for a planted tank.


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