anything tha would actively eat fry would by nature be aggressive. Thats the
tough part. The ones that'll eat them but not "act" excessively aggresive
are going to be too big. On the fairly mild end you have Scienochromis
fryeri aka hap ahli from lake malawi. They are open water predators, but
don't seem to be too aggresive in the aquarium. They are difficult to sex at
a young age and by the time they reach adulthood (looooong time!) will get
over 6".

Convict cichlids might be an option. Easy to sex and will breed and a young
age. They won't grow past 5" or so. On the other hand, they'll even attack
you if they have young in the tank and you happen to be silly enough to
stick your hand anywhere near them (in a 20 gallon, thats anywhere at all
under water).

"Otavio Exel" wrote in message
r...
Hello All,

I'm planning to get my first cichlid pair!!!
My dream cichlid would be like:
- not too big!
- interesting spawning behaviour (like most cichlids!)
- low agression (like very few cichlids)
- be able to catch/eat livebearer fry (see below)

I've narowed my choices to: Ramirezi, Kribensis and Neolamprologus
brichardi; AFAIK (and I know nothing about cichlids), the main problems
with those 3 options a
- my water is too alkaline for the Ramirezi;
- Brichardis are difficult to sex (I could end up with MM or FF);
- none are very likely to eat the livebearer fry;

What do you think?
Any advice you can give me?
Any pitfall I should be aware of?
Any other option?

the tank:
- 30g
- plywood
- open top
- air driven RUGF

furnitu
- mildly planted
- 2 pieces of driftwood
- 2 half coconut shells

the water:
- PH=7.3 GH=? KH=?
- NH3=0 NO2=0 NO3=?
- Temp=26C-27C (79F)

current fish:
- 4 adult otocinclus
- 4 juvenile SAEs
- 3 (1M/2F) local molly-like livebearer (Poecilia Butleri)

TIA!

--
Otavio Exel /\oo/\