I have a 36 gallon bowfront tank that measures 17"L x 31-3/4"W x 51"H. I have had the tank running now for a few days. I have added my dechlorinater and bacteria starter. I want to build a perfect tank for african cichlids, not sure what lake but I do know that they should all be from the same one. I know 36 gallons is not ideal but I am looking for cichlids that do not get to big and can live comfortably in the tank. I have gravel substrate which im not sure will work, after doing a little research it seems like sand would have been a better choice. I dont really want to change it at this point but I would if necessary. Besides that I want to add rock not sure whats the best type for them, also no plants is what I am finding out. Any ideas, suggestions or info on which species would not get to big and how to build the habitat suitable would be much appreciated. I will continue to do my homework as well, Thanks!

Gravel will work, cichlids just like sand better. There are rocks that will affect your water parameters. If your ph from your tap is too low, you could put some limestone in the tank for deco and it raises the PH a little. I'm going to be adding Shale and limestone to my tank when I get the chance. But some rocks also lower the PH, so I would make sure to do some research before putting random rocks in there. Are you wanting a lot of color in your fish?

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Frontosa Fanatic

I was thinking limestone. Im looking into maybe putting bolivian rams in the tank not quite sure though. I having dificulty picking which type of cichlid would be best in the 36 gallon.

In a 36 gallon I would recomment going with dward cichlids, like Bolivian rams as you suggested or german blue, electric blue or golden rams all stay between 3-5 inches and make for great center pieces in a tank. Lake Malwai and Victorian cichlids all get pretty big and would only be good in your 36G, if you start with juvies or fry, for a year or a little more.

I have a 120G Malwai tank with 15 different peacocks, haps and fronts in it and they are all between 3 and 10 inches. Hoping to get some pics posted soon.

Either way you go cichlids are awesome fish and IMHO have more character then most fish in the freshwater world. I just have to tap on the top of my tank and no matter where they are hiding in the lace rock they all come out to say hi.

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45 G freshwater planted tank - Fauna: 14 cardinal tetras, 7 rummynose tetras, 5 black phantom tetras, 4 sterbai cory cats, 2 german blue rams, 2 oto cats and 1 bristlenose pleco.

120 G African Cichlid tank - Fauna: 2 Venustus, 2 red shoulders, 2 OB peacocks, 2 Oto Lithobates sulfur heads yellow blaze and white blaze, 2 Frontosas, firefish, german red, blue regal, sunshine peacock, lemon jake and 2 sailfin plecos.

DONT PUT SAND IN i did it and after that no more cichlids they all died please dont just go out and buy some rocks and make wholes for them to go in and out okay please DONT USE SAND its bad they like sand but i havent had much luck and dont worrie if you see and nest of gravel there just mating its okay do some mating reasearch

I would actually recommend sand for cichlids, perferably with aragonite to keep the ph up or even some crushed corals in the filter will give the same affect, sorry to hear you had bad experiences with sand, I've never had a problem with sand to date yet, knock on wood..

And I would have to agree that not too many africans would be happy in a 36g as most get a min of 5", but rams are very beautiful fish and would do just fine in a 36, rams are a bit more delicate though, good luck!

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10g- 2 hi-fin fm platys, 3 koi & red wag sword fry
40g Breeder- 6 danios, 4 female swords, 1 male swords
"I was born with nothin and I still got most of it left."- Seasick Steve

Hey uh, I don't know what you did but I have 4 tanks with sand in it and I have dwarf and south american cichlids that live just fine in it. If your fish died then it is most likely something else. I would venture to say 90 percent of our members use sand and I have very rarely if ever seen sand be the killer in a FW tank.

To the OP;
Look into the dwarf cichlids, I think you would be more satisfied with this than a bunch of crowded africans. I would also look into some easy plants, many of the dwarf cichlids like having live plants to hide in and it makes them a bit more bold.

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75g planted 2x Golden Oscars, 1x Pictus cat, 1x Common Pleco
55g 1 juvi albino oscar, 3 Pictus cats, 1x Common Pleco, 1 GBR
25g Planted Juvi L144 Plecos, Mollies, guppies, and RCS

I have sand in all of my tanks and my fish are fine, I don't know what happened to your tank, but sand it very useable.

to the OP, if your going to go with dwarf cichlids, they like soft water(correct me if I'm wrong) so adding some driftwood and plants would def. benefit them.

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Frontosa Fanatic

i was going to suggest dwarfs too, there really pretty and dont get any bigger than 4 inches. and if you want them to display there more natural behaviour id change to sand, we had gravel and they'd pick up one bit put it back down and look pretty bored, but when we changed to sand they loved it!! they'll sift the sand for lost food and dig around and under things, you go out and come back a bit later to find the whole bottom looking different! plus its so much easier to keep the bottom clean with sand as all the poo and stuff sits on the top so no need to dig round just siphon all the bits you can see.

If you are stepping away from East African cichlids (or Central Americans), you are stepping away from limestone. Aquarists tend to over-generalize sometimes, and don't research the fact that most hobby cichlids come from soft, mineral poor water thousands of km away from any limestone.
Keepers of dwarf cichlids will go to great lengths to have soft water, and all rams are softwater fish. Hardening the water is actively bad for them.
Ditto for Apistogramma, Nanacara, Pelvicachromis from the African rainforests, Discus, Angels.
The so-called "Africans" (from three hardwater lakes on that huge softwater continent) need minerals and a high pH, and people sometimes think that need applies to all 'cichlids'. It doesn't. Malawis, Tanganyikans and Victorians are very interesting in evolutionary terms because their species have adjusted to and flourished in rather extreme water conditions, compared to what their ancestors lived in.
BTW - sand is the perfect substrate. It's not what wiped out the poster above's set-up, unless he/she chose a sand with a very specific problem to it. But if you want dwarf cichlids, try to get a chenmically neutral sand (or gravel) that won't raise your pH or harden your water.

If you were using playsand, you must really look at it. Some they are manufacturing now contains mold inhibitors and will kill off a tank real fast.

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220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

Definetly would want softer water with dwarf or other north/south american cichlids

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10g- 2 hi-fin fm platys, 3 koi & red wag sword fry
40g Breeder- 6 danios, 4 female swords, 1 male swords
"I was born with nothin and I still got most of it left."- Seasick Steve

Sand is definitely okay. Eco-Complete makes some awesome African Cichlid sand substrate that keeps the PH higher, but stable. I also use silica sand (i.e., pool filter sand) that does not fluctuate the PH or any other water paramaters in my 75 gallon tank and 15 gallon tank. Fish love sand, and not just cichlids. Going to have to agree with the above statements and say, if your fish died, it was caused by something else.

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