what kind of cichlid tank should i start?

wrote:
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.



55 Gals is a nice tank to start Cichlids, if this is a new setup for
you, I would go with (Mbuna) they are very colorful reds, yellows,
blues, silver, pink, albino....I have 2 of them setup and I call them my
Crayola Tanks, because of the colors......get them small and let them
gwt along or weed them selves out early, you will know in a short time
who will get along and play nice, I have around 30 or so in both my 55's
a bit overstocked with very good filtration, but let me tell you the
action is non stop...the tank looks alive 100% they never ever stop
moving, as far as agression, I remove the bullies and put them in my
125, or you can take them back to the LFS for another....

Electric yellows are very peaceful, Kenyi, zebras, and such...(Damasoni)
are NOT a good idea, they are the meanest fish I have ever had, even the
fry kill each other, socolofi are also a bit nasty buy very nice to look
at...goto cichlid-forum.com and you will find a lot of info there...