HOW MANY AFRICAN CICHLIDS CAN I PUT IN A 40 GALLON TANK?
I DONT WANNA UPGRADE TO MY 125 UNTELL I MOVE INTO A BIGGER PLACE WHICH WONT BE 4 ANOTHER YEAR I HAVE 8 NOW BOUT 1 INCH LONG. HELP PLEASE!!!!!

I looked at your profile and it looks like you are mainly focusing on mbunas that will get to be 5-6" in length when full grown. The general rule is 1" of fish per gallon of water, but actually with cichlids, you want to pack them in more tightly to reduce aggression (HOWEVER, you MUST overfilter the tank and you must not use this as an excuse to pack 100" of fish in there). So instead of 40" of fish, with mbunas, I would put around 50" of them. That would mean that you could have around 10 mbunas in there.

Now, a good thing you have done is purchase one of each species. There are three ways to build a cichlid tank:

1) Have a species tank where you have a ton of one species and the aggression is all spread out.

2) Have groups of species with a very specific male:female ratio (1 male to 4-5 females)

3) Have a tank of one per species. Most mbunas are only aggressive towards their own species (or species that look like them - getting two blue cichlids count as one "species" in their eyes). By only have one per species you are limiting their aggression.

You can also combine (2) and (3) if you have a large enough tank (have some species be in groups and others be single - this is what I do.

Now, onto your problems. First you have quite a mix of aggression. #3 only works if all your cichlids are around the same temperament. For instance, your bumblebee is a nasty sucker and will torment the other when he grows. He may be fine when he is small, but trust me - it will not end well. The frontosa, on the other hand, will (a) get too big for your tank and (b) is very gentle compared to the mbunas you have in there.

If I were you, I would get rid of the catfish, the front, and the bumblebee. Then go out and stock your tank with several other mbuna species (examples: red zebra, acei, demasoni, etc.) until you get to 10 fish. Also, get rid of the pleco - he will get too big and messy and will only eat algae when under 6". Instead control your algae by not overfeeding and limiting your lights to 10 hours/day at the max. Cichlids munch on algae on the rocks in the wild and will do so in the tank anyways. It is very healthy for them.

Let me know if you need anything else. Your tank is looking good and if you take my suggestions, I think it will turn out to be a nice environment for them.

That is basically what I was trying to ask. I got the oscar for the snail problem because a friend of mine said they will eat anything, but didn't realize anything that they can fit in their mouth. I wanted another species to go with them to be able to handle themself against the oscar. What cichlid would be compatible with the oscar cichlid that wouldn't be picked on or eaten by the oscar? I like those striped convict-looking cichlids, but they aren't going to get to be the size of the oscar. Is their another freshwater fish, cichlid or another type of fish that gets pretty big that can handle themself against an oscar or do oscars just have a tank by themselves? I'll probably leave the oscars alone in the 30 gallon for now, but I still want a parrot cichlid. I want some kind of a cichlid in the 125 gallon that will not eat my other fish. I also like the clown loach and was wondering if they would get along with other community fish. If I get 1 clown loach and 1 parrot cichlid and put them in with some mollies, guppies, platies, tetras, silver dollars, catfish, and plecos, oh and most importantly, the mystery snails, do you think the parrot cichlid or clown loach will eat the other fish and mystery snails? My 2 adult mysteries have died, but I have 8 of their babies that survived and are full grown in size now, but I do have a few black snails in the 125 that I would like to rid before they get to be a problem.

Sumthing - If you do not want to take the oscars back then I would personally leave them to themselves and then plan on buying them a bigger tank in a year or two.

Clown loaches get huge (14" - 18") and like to be kept in groups. A better alternative would be a yoyo loach (stay around 5-6"). They also like to be kept in groups, but stay much smaller. They are my favorite fish outside of cichlids. They are simply crazy and it is so fun to watch them. They do (like most loaches) eat snails like crazy. That was my original reason for buying a groupd of 4 back in the day and they ate over 200 snails in a matter of days. I was going to then return them, but I loved them so much that I kept them until they died many years later. They are docile to other species so they work well in community tanks. They may hide for large periods of time (if stressed or scared), but when they are out, they are quite a bit of fun to watch.

I responded to the parrot cichlid thing on the other post, but I will repeat it here. They are a man-made species and as with hybrids, it is difficult to tell how they are going to behave. This is one of the major problem with these kind of fish - their temperaments vary greatly from individual to individual.

Sorry if I am not being overly helpful. I just think with the oscar thing that you are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. I am having a hard time since they are in a very small tank for them and therefore, their tankmates are very limited. I am trying though and I sincerely apologize if I am wasting your time.

THANX MIAMI BY THE WAY MY YELLOW LABS AND MY BUMBLE BEE AND THIS ORANGE ONE ( I DONT KNO THE NAME OF IT) ARE ALL EQUALLY NASTY. THEY HAVE THE TANK ON LOCK DOWN EACH HAS THERE OWN PART OF THE TANK AND THE REST OF THE FISH ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO SWIM AT THE TOP. I KNEW AFRICANS WERE MEAN BUT IS THERE A WAY TO GET 10 AFRICANS THAT ARE PEACEFUL? AND WHAT 10 AFRICANS WOULD YOU RECOMEND ME GETTING? I JUST BOUGHT A VC10 ARE THEY EXTREMELY VICIOUS?