[teamchcken]

Ok i am about half way through the cycling process in my 26 gallon and i am looking for fish to put in it. i have been looking at african cichlids. but i have heard that you should have only 1 cichlid or many, about a dozen, or more. i was wondering if it would be possible to keep only about 5 or 6. i probably will not be able to upgrade for a very long time (im only 14), so its out of the question. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanx

[forfins]

Teamchicken:

I am very happy to see a teenager getting into the hobby and even more happy to see that you are asking questions before starting out.

A 26 gallon tank will be too small for many of the African Cichlids that come from Lake Malawi. (In my opion a minimum tank size is 75 gallons for these fish.) However, there are many fish from Lake Tanganyika which should do fine.

A colony of shell dwellers or rock dwellers should do nicely. Julidochromis or Neolamprologus spieces come to mind. You may even get some fry (baby fish) out of these with little difficulty.

I wish I could direct you more, but I only keep Lake Malawi fish and are not versed on Tanganyikans right now. Do some more research on Tanganyikans, I think you will find something that is right for you.

[teamchcken]

Thank you very much for the advice. I will do some research on some Tanganikans and let you know how it goes if i get some.

[scottmw]

I have a 29 gal, and i have 5 cichlds in it. I would think you could put about about 2 baby yellow labs in there. I have 3, one of them is full grown. (he is my favorite, had him since 8th grade, he was my first cichlid i bought) Hope all works out.

[teamchcken]

thanx for the help guys. but i decided to just make a community tank. but if i ever get a bigger tank i will definatly go for the cichlids, i would like to have a lot more than 5. and at least with a community tank i can have a few more. but thank you guys for your help.