I CURRENTLY HAVE A 29 GALLON(SEMI-AGRESSIVE) 2 BALA, 2 BLUE GOURAMI, 1 GOLD GOURAMI, CLOWN LOACH, GOLDEN ALGAE EATER, 2 GIANT DANIOS, PLECO, AND A 4 LINE PIMODELLA CATFISH. I HAVE STARTED TO LOOK AT THE CICHLIDS BUT I WONDER IF ANYONE HAS SUGGESTIONS. I WANT 1 0R 2 CICHLIDS, DOES ANYONE IF THAT WOULD WORK OUT, AND IF SO WHAT TYPE WOULD FIT IN MY TANK. I JUST BOUGHT THIS TANK 2 WEEKS AGO AND ALREADY HAVE STARTED THINKING ABOUT A 55 GALLON.
First off, welcome to the site. I am in no way trying to be rude, but did you cycle the tank? It just seems like an awfully lot of fish to have in there for a tank that is only 2 weeks old.
Congrats on looking at cichlids as they are my all time favorite (I will never own any other FW fish besides cichlids). However, I don't think cichlids in general would be good to add to your setup - Especially just adding one or two. They are in general far more aggressive than many of the fish you have and require different water parameters for the most part. Plus 29 gallons is considered too small for most species of cichlids.
If you want to start up a 55 gallon, do that as a pure cichlid tank. I have a 58 gallon Lake Malawi cichlid tank and I absolutely love it. I have never had such interesting freshwater fish - you will not be sorry. If you do go this route, it is very important that you research the species because if you do not, you will waste alot of money when they kill each other. Let me know if you end up doing the 55 gallon and I can suggest some nice species that are very interesting and can live together. Also, there is an article on cichlid aggression in the article section of this site. Check out that article to get a general idea of controlling cichlid aggression.
As a side note, there are several fish that are going to easily out grow your current tank. That is probably why you mentioned upgrading to a 55. If you end up doing the cichlid 55 tank, you need to get rid of these huge fish in your 29 gallon or buy another larger tank for them to grow in to.
You are at you're limit for your tank i would recomend not getting anymore. Also cichlids are way too agressive for you're tank. It is a better idea not to mix your categories of fish.
THANKS FOR THE INFO, I HAVE SPOKE WITH MY WIFE AND WE PROBABLY WILL BE STARTING A 55 GALLON CICHLID TANK IN THE NEAR FUTURE. WHAT SIZE FISH DO YOU THINK I SHOULD START WITH.
As someone who raised cichlids for a very long time, i would suggest starting out with the more hardy varieties of cichlids, in a fifty five you can put peacocks which have loads of color, yellow labidichromis, and some blue johani, they will work out well together. make sure to have lots of hiding/nesting spaces as these fish love the cave life. you wont be disappointed!
My mix of cichlids in my 58 gallon is yellow labs, red zebras, demasoni, and yellow-tailed acei. Google these fish to see if you like any of them. The demasoni need to be kept in larger groups (recommended 12 although I keep 8 together with no problem). I have 4 red zebras (1 male and 3 females) and a similar distribution of males to females for my yellow labs. All will get along fine besides the occasional cichlid aggression. Also, the acei are nice because they occupy the top of the tank and are as close to a schooling African cichlid as you will find. They cannot be sexed (without venting) when young except to study their behavior so you will just have to keep an eye on them and trade some back if you get too many males and not enough females.
