hi all, first post to the forum, although i have been stalking for a while.

i have a 55 gallon tank i am in the process of setting up. already know everything going into the tank, and the type of fish i want to go with - south american cichlids.

i have done some research on which ones i could get, and have a small list. from the reading i have done, all of the cichlids get pretty agressive during breeding, so should i avoid getting pairs??? here are the ones i am thinking of:

black convict
firemouth
rainbow

would you say these three are compatable? any that i should add or delete? the electric blue Jack Dempseys are gorgeous but it sounds like they are terrors and would kill everything. Your thoughts are appreciated, thanks in advance!

Dan

Hello Dan, watching mine, the agressive traits are about the same as fresh water perch we used to catch when we were kids fishing. As long as they have places to hide, I would think they would be ok. You can make fish caves from a coconut or two. Split them in half, clean out and boil until you get most of the tannins out and cut out the "doors" with a pair of wire cutters or something suitable (that's what I did).