wrote in message
oups.com...
New to cichlids, interested in starting a tank 55gallons or so, and am
wondering what kinds of setups are best. Malawi? Tanganika? I'd like
to have fish that stay relatively small (no oscars, please) and
possibly some plants, but beyond that I'm looking for suggestions on
where to start. I'd like to keep fish from relatively the same natural
locations.


I'd say start with a nice malwai mbuna setup.
get some tough, aggro, colourful fish
try your hand at breeding, then sell them off as colonys and fry and try for
some thing tricky that has caught your eye
mbuna are ridiculously tough and beautiful
they spawn to spite you!
an example with ample filtration and weekly water changes that would give
heaps of fry would be...


Melanochromis interruptus x3
hongi x3
blue pindani x3
rusty x3
throw in some electric blues x3
red empress x3
and a lake victorian male like a crimson dawn or nyerie or xmas fulu or
brownea... but only one! and maybe a girl for him

or
just buy random peacock males
and feed colour food for an incredible display

or
just a colony of one species


or a tanga biotype
they can be pretty but are a tad harder than malawi or vics due to higher pH
aragonite sand makes a sweet substrate as it buffers nice and high