# Neotropical Community- Is it possible?



## Jordan31 (May 3, 2009)

Hi all!
Stumbled accross this forum whilst searching for information, and found it brilliant and very useful! So thought I would join and see if you guys could get me going in the right direction here...

So *** had a 55g tank sitting in my backyard for about 2 years now after my Oscar passed away, and recently found the inspiration to get it going again. After a visit to the local lfs and a look at whats on offer, I decided that Tetras and Angelfish are too borring and that something new and different would be nice. So that pretty much left me either Neotropical or Malawi cichlids as my options. Mbuna are nice and all, but the aquariums I have seen them in all look the same and sort of bland, so I was wondering whether it is possible at all to create a community tank of Central and South american cichlids in a 55g 4 foot tank?
I was thinking in regards to stocking that Blue Acaras and Rainbow cichlids would be nice centerpieces with a Dwarf Pike and Pictus catfish for variety. Is this at all possible, or would it be completely overstocking the tank? If these species cant work, what will? Or am I doomed to fall back on the Mbuna option (not that its bad, its just not my first option)??

Thanks in advance for any wisdom and help anyone can impart!


----------



## Jordan31 (May 3, 2009)

Oh, and I forgot to add:
In the kind of setup I mentioned, Would it be advisable to set up an extensive filter system to deal with the bioload or would I be able to get away with a Canister filter? I plan on creating a waterfall/planted pool at the top of the tank, so a wet-dry system is not out of the question, I would just rather not go gluing anything onto the inside of the tank...

Thanks again,
Jordan


----------



## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Hey *Jordan31*,

Mate, where in Aus are you? I could probably direct you towards one of the local forums for a start. The good thing about many of the local forums is they have extensive buy & sell sections for live stock and dry goods. Many hobbyists sell thier young juvenile cichlids online for about one third to half the price you'll pay in a LFS, and quite often good quality filters come up for sale at reasonable prices.

What type of canister filter do you have? I use two small eheim canister filters on my smaller tank, pro 2222's, and on each of the larger tanks (I use the term _larger_ with tongue firmly planted in cheek :roll: ) I use a eheim pro 2228. On a 55g tank, two medium sized canister filters would would offer plenty of filtration. The good thing about having two filters on a tank is that you can clean one, and not worry about killing off your biological filtration.

As for stocking your tank. I have seen some nice German imported Blue acaras in a number of LFS lately. They are certainly better looking than many of the other Blue acaras for sale, which are often Asian farm bred. However a pair of Blue acara that pair up could easily claim the whole 55g as thier own and kill any other cichlids in the tank. And more than likely eat any tetras in the tank.

Up here in Brisbane occasionally some Gold acara's, 'Aequidens' sapayensis, become available, either on QLDAF forum, or in a LFS. They are about the smae size as a Blue acara. One LFS worker I know has a breeding pair, here's a photo of the male (I think).









Pike cichlids are illegal in Australia, and you will never see them for sale in a LFS as a LFS would face very hefty fines for having them and even be closed down. There are pike cichlids here in Australia, but I've never heard of any of the dwarf species being here.

The biggest problem with keeping cichlids in Australia, is that so many species are not allowed to be imported into Australia. This is especially true for many SA and CA cichlids, and not so much with African cichlids. There are many species here that are not supposed to be here, but they are often more expensive than what they are in the USA or Europe.

If it were my 55g tank, I'd do a community tank stocking it with dwarf SA cichlids, tetras, fancy plecos, bristlenose plecos and corydoras catfish. Off the top of my head some possible combinations are; A trio of Gymnogeophagus balzanii and a pair of Laetacara dorsigera, or two pairs of Mikrogeophagus altispinosa (Bolivian rams) and a pair of L. dorsigera, or two pairs of Laetacara curviceps and a trio of Apistogramma agassizii, or two pairs of Mikrogeophagus rameriz (Blue rams - german bred are the best) and a trio Apsitogramma viejita, or a trio of Apistogramma macmasterii and a trio of dicrossus filamentosus, or two pairs of Keyhole cichlids and a pair of Nannacara anomala.

If you look at my signature below, you'll see I keep small SA community tanks, so I'm sort of biased towards dwarf SA cichlids.

And just to give you an idea of what some of these fish look like, I'm going to spam some of my photo's :lol: p.s. my photography skills suck.

My male dorsigera. I'm currently growing out 20+ juveniles for sale in a couple of months.









My pair of curviceps. They are very camera shy and I don't have any good photo's of them. 









My brand new Apsitogramma agassizii. I just bought them this weekend and they are in a quarentine tank. So thier colours haven't really come out yet.









One of my L134 plecos.


----------



## Jordan31 (May 3, 2009)

Im living up hee in Brisbane too, south of the city at bayside. I know we have a Cichlid Society in the city somewhere, but have never visited, as its a little out of the way for me. Perhaps it might be worth giving them a visit though...

I dont currently have any filter for the tank, a canister filter would just be easier for me in regards to maintainance. The other option is to silicon a peice of acrylic into one corner and DIY a trickle filter with the materials I allready have (minus pump).

Shame about the pikes, I was looking forwards to something different. Its funny that we can import any cichlids at all, look at what tilapia have done to the Tingalpa resivior! Mind you, any species introduced out of its natural environment is guna cause problems, and Australia is ripe with examples unfortunatly.
Those Acaras look stunning but! You say a pair of them would take over the tank, but what about a single fish in with a pair of a less agressive species?

Nice pleco!
I might look into the dwarf cichlids if I cant do their bigger cousins. Those Gymnogeophagus balzanii look suitably interesting


----------



## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Hey *Jordan31*,

:lol: My bet is you live pretty close to me then. I'm at Belmont, between Carindale and Wynnum.

Here's a link to our local forum, Queensland Aquarium Forum. If your interested we have an auction coming up in two weeks, there will be lots of fish (mostly african cichlids and bristlenose catfish), plants and hardware for sale.

I haven't seen any Balzanii recently, but Ryan will more than likely know as he's one of the creators of EartheatersAustralia.



> Those Acaras look stunning but! You say a pair of them would take over the tank, but what about a single fish in with a pair of a less agressive species?


What other species are you thinking of? You probably could, I just like pairs or trios for the colours they produce when spawning.


----------



## Jordan31 (May 3, 2009)

Hmm, nice area up there, I love the "beaches" up around the north, as the waters cleaner and theres more to look at  . Down here we just have mud with the occasional Xenia or Aiptasia :? . Oh right sorry... cichlid forum and all 

Thanks heaps for that mate, Didnt realise there was a local Forum! And I will be sure to try and make it to the auction. Where can I find details for it?

As for other species, I was thinking along the lines of Herotilapia multispinosa (rainbow cichlids) provided they are imported of course? I also wouldnt mind firemouth, Salvini, and Nicaragua cichlids. Would any of these be compatible with eachother? Im not all that well educated in this area as *** only ever kept small community tanks and Nano-reefs with only a single Oscar in the big-fish department :roll:

And Im not all too worried about colour, if I wanted that Id have picked Africans or a marine...


----------



## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

I don't know much about the CA cichlids and what's compatable with what. You're best off asking in the relevant forums here on C-F. A 55g isn't really a big tank, even though it's a 4 footer, it's got a small footprint, so my guess is that you won't be stocking to many fish in it.

As for the auction, you can find a post about it on the QLDAF site, in the general discussion area.


----------



## Jordan31 (May 3, 2009)

Ok cheers mate, Thanks heaps for the help!


----------

