# 40 gallon aquarium and cichlids?



## Jenniferinfl

I'm lucky to have a local fish shop that mostly specializes in cichlids. When I talked to the guy working there, he suggested for my 40 gallon that I should get all males (to avoid hybridization) and approximately 12 for a 40 gallon tank to overstock them and prevent fighting. 
I believe the species he was recommending for me were all peacocks. 

Does that sound reasonable? I asked him about breeding them and he suggested a separate 20 gallon breeder with one male and 4 females with a lot of hiding places. 

Does this guy sound like he's on the right track or should I do some more reading on my own>?


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## rift lake

12 is a good number for a 40, and all males is good so they dont breed. I have a 40 but didnt think about all male, started with 5 Brichardi and 3 Leleupi's now on the second breeding of Brichardi's with over 25 in the tank now. yes I do need a bigger tank'


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## dalfed

Be careful of the peacocks you get some are quite large, I don't know of any that stay under 6 inches! With an all male tank you will probably get 1 male that is dominant and the rest will look really dull. do some research online would hate to have you disappointed.


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## Jenniferinfl

I must be finding bad information than, when I was looking them up there were a few that had an adult size of 5" listed. But, that doesn't really surprise me! 

The local fish store has a website with a price list, is it okay to post the link for help picking some that are the right size?


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## coralbandit

Go for it! love to see some nice peacocks!


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## Jenniferinfl

I just wasn't sure if it was against the rules to share a link to a site that sells fish.. lol 

All Aboard the Cichlid Express

Edited to add: coralbandit, I just looked through some of your photos. I had completely forgotten about discus! Wow, I remember being like 8 years old reading every fish book in our local library and Discus were the ones I wanted the most. As a kid, never ended up keeping anything but guppies and swordtails, but, did I ever want a discus! Wow, can't believe I didn't remember them 10 years ago when I had quite a few aquariums running. Had completely forgotten they even existed until I saw your photo album. I'm not sure if they're still considered difficult to keep or not, the book from the library had to be from the 70's early 80's that described them as very difficult to keep.


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## coralbandit

Nice looking fish.I liked the Eureka Jake red(page 1),the red top lawanda,the ngara flametail,Rubenscens red and the albino diamond red.Just what cught my eye.
You should pick what interest you and research the living crap out of each individual and pay particular note to small(short) note that say not good with conspecifics or the such..
The african cichlids are the most colorful fish next marine,thanks for sharing link!


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## rayray74

wow, nice range of cichlids there!
I am lucky to have a breeder round the corner from me, and pick them up in the 1-2 inch for $4.00 a fish, and some are a BOGO!

they are a beautiful fish and we sit and watch ours every evening and some mornings as well!


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## Jenniferinfl

After even more thinking, what do you guys think of me maybe getting 2 males and 8 females all of the same species instead of 12 males? 

I'm back and forth a lot, having all males would let me have a lot more variety in the tank. BUT, I would love to see the mouth brooding. If I go this route though, I would need to get a desirable species so that I could easily dispose of the extra young. 

I'm glad I'm still waiting for the filter I ordered to get here, haven't even started cycling the tank yet so I have plenty of time to think this over before I fill the tank.


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## dalfed

If you got Psuedotropeus Saulosi with the males being blue and the females yellow you get the best of both worlds. You may not get big money for the babies but they are very popular so it should be easy to move them. Pseudotropheus saulosi


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## majerah1

If asking for help like this outer links are perfectly ok! 

I like Dale's suggestion on fish. Seems like it would be a good fit.


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## rift lake

most Cichlids from lake Tanganyika do stay around 5 inches when full grown so if your looking for something that size then look there Malawi Cichlids can grow large


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## Jenniferinfl

Thank you! It doesn't look like my local fish shop has the one Dale suggested, BUT, they do have a very similar one, Pseudotropheus lombardoi, where the males are blue and the females are yellow. 

I definitely don't care about getting big bucks for the young ones. I used to part with guppies for 5 cents each from the local fish shop just to clear the tanks a bit. I just want to be able to move them along without facing the conundrum of what to do with them.. lol

I went out plant shopping today and had no luck at all. It would seem almost no one around here carries plants. The only store that had plants was PetSmart, but, they wanted more for common plants then what better ones sell for online, so, it looks like I'll be ordering those online. Well, plus the plants were dying and the girl was explaining how to cut off the dying parts to replant it. So, meh, no thanks. lol At least not for $9.99.. 

At least the tank finally has water in it, and some substrate. Still lots to do putting it together though.


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