I am new to this, but I have decided that if I am keeping freshwater fish, I would like to keep Cichlids.
I initally wanted to have 3 x Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlids in my tank, as the feature fish, but I soon found out it is difficult to find tank mates for the Cichlids - every fish I looked was apparently a no-no (barbs, tetras, etc...)
So as my tank is cycling (started tonight) I am thinking about just setting up cichlid tank - although I would like to add panda cories as a bottom dweller.
Anyway, my tank 'stats' are:
Dimensions 92 x 35 x 55cm/36" x 14" x 22
Volume 177 l./39 gal. (46.76 US gal.)
Probable volume 159 l./35 gal. (42 US gal.)
If possible I would like to include the cockatoo dwarf cichlid and the msobo.
If you like cichlids and still like to keep community fish, you could try angelfish... they are from the cichlid family, and get along with a few aggressive community fish.
If you want lake cichlids i would wait to hear from the cichlid experts, as set up can be tricky, even the order in which you introduce the fish and the environment that must be built for them (caves, etc.).
when i had apistogramas in my planted tanks i had them with german rams, otto's, golden nugget pleco, and a colony of panda corries... just give them a bunch of hiding places...
