Thinking of starting a new tank - Cichlids

Greetings all


Hope you all doing well.

I was offered a free tank, still need to confirm dimensions, but from what I have been told its approx. 300L (125cm x 50cm x 50cm) So I am thinking of starting a new tank after being out of the hobby for probably 15 years. (Pic added of old setup)


I am considering grabbing some cichlids again since it was the last setup I had and was wondering if you guys think the tank will be big enough and if there will be too much aggression.

Will try to get all fish at the same time and approx. the same time to hopefully help curb early aggression due to size differences. (if this is even a thing, lol, its been a while so forgive my ignorance)


My thoughts so far:

2x Ornate Ctenopoma
2x Ctenopoma Acutirostre
2/3x Amatitlania Nigrofasciata (Female preferably)

1x Polypterus Ornatipinnis and/or 1x Albino Polypterus Senegalus



I also considered (either as alternatives to some of the above or instead of the above):

Cichlasoma Salvini
Discus & Silver Dollars



I was aiming for 7-8 fish of decent size with the Polypterus being the showpiece of the tank.



Not sure on how to hardscape/aquascape the tank yet, and my mspaint skills are terrible so wont be sharing those ideas just yet ... haha



Any suggestions and advice would be muchly appreciated.


Regards

PS: Mods, if this is in the wrong spot, I humbly apologize, please feel free to move the thread as needed


Old Setup:

 

I appreciate the feedback.

Salvini was still under consideration, I like the colours, but know they get like 20cm so wasnt sure on that.


I am willing to keep singles instead of pairs, was just worried the tank would look really empty then.

Would Convicts work with the Ornate and Acutirostre ? (similar size but was warned that convicts are aggressive, I never had issues with convicts in the past, but they were always solo or a pair of females, some of the few survivors of BoB my Oscar back in the day)

Would my tank be big enough for the smaller Birchirs ?, I know they get to like 30-60cm depending on which you get ?


Discus have always been a dream but so many people say they are hard fish to keep, so really hesitant about it


Will look into your suggestion as well, not a fan of the Angels, but Gouramis could work. Could I get full size or should I go Dwarf ?

 

Thanks very much for the info, will keep on researching

This noob is very appreciative ... haha

 

I have some experience, have kept some cichlids before and done the usual community tank with tetras, etc.

But have been out of the hobby for so long I dont trust the knowledge I am remembering cause age and memory are not friends. HAHA (would rather not trust my prior experience and learn again, than to make a mistake and kill off a tank of fish)


Some of my fish from my last tank (Not many pictures survived the years sadly, no longer have pictures of the convict, electric yellow lab, lyretail, etc)

Sadly, the Oscar (BoB The Destroyer) started to get hyper aggressive (understandable as I was inexperienced when the Oscar was recommended to me by my LSF) and basically only left 4 other fish alive with him at the end.

Killed puffers, dempseys, you name it and he destroyed it.


Learned a lot from that fish, mostly just how much I didnt know when I was a kid

 

Thanks for the compliment, never gotten that in this hobby before, haha.

Geophagus are super nice, really love their colouring and temperament.

Didnt know of the Uaru, those are super nice looking fish, but wouldnt work in a more aggressive tank correct ?



Any idea what the last fish is that I posted a pic of ? (cant seem to recall what it is, believe its an Mbuna but not sure)

 

Daaaaaamn, good call on that identification ... Bought it as an unknown Mbuna and was super thrilled with the colouring and size so never complained hey.

Thanks for the info on that one !!


Cichlids are so beautiful, pity they have destruction capabilities to match... haha

 

Had to google most of those in your list. They're really pretty though and would be amazing if you were able to keep them together.
Thought I could throw in my own 2 cents worth but I have zero experience with cichlids aside from 2 angels I had to re-home soon after getting.
But I'm definitely going to follow along here as I've already learnt a whole bunch from you two

 

You are too kind, I deserve no praise.

They really are gorgeous fish, and while I have had colourful cichlids before, these really stood out to me, and I still really like the idea of 6 or so large-ish fish in my setup, still just trying to work out what.

Dropped to one Convict, from what I have researched the last couple days, a single convict should be fine as long as they have place to hide and line of sight breaks, which I knew already, just didnt know it wouldnt work with pairs.

@Reedfish is the knowledge base over here, so all thanks to him

 

He definitely knows his stuff and is super helpful

 

So I had a really dumb thought stuck in my head all day.


How fast would shrimp have to breed to "survive" living with cichlids ... Friend and I were joking about having the tank basically feed itself with some crazy shrimp breeding.

Obviously not possible but would have been an insanely intense tank



Ok, enough joking, proper question.

What kind of filter do you guys recommend ?(Brands that normies can afford preferably) ... I would really love to get one with a built in heater space as to have as few pipes/cables heading to the tank as possible. (want to get lilly glass as well)


As far as Lph, I used to always guesstimate 3-4x the volume of the tank in throughput and you should be good and it never failed me but I see that Dophin lists 950Lph as good for a 60L ? ... Did they mean gallon ? ...


Also, sorry for all the questions, but ... how hard is it to redo the silicon on a tank, is it possible to do like a corner at a time or should I rather get someone with more brains than me to assist ?

 

This man speaks words that sound expensive ... haha ... That is actually a really good idea that never crossed my mind

With my DIY skills I will be playing Pickup - glass shards edition ... But this is now pretty high on my want list.

How expensive is it to get a sump made ? (Or can you buy them)