What is the best dwarf cichlids ?

Question

What are the best dwarf species that would go well in a community tank with:

4 clown loaches

2 coryadora

black widow tetra

sailfin mollies

swordtails

whitecloud minnows

neon tetra

I do have other tanks so i can change them about to suit the smaller fish. Any help about them would be appreciated. I was told about rams and kribensis, and what decour do they like. Thanks :)

Answer 1

what size tank are you upgrading to? clown loaches get up to 30cm long and are active so you will need a large tank for them. Cory's should be kept in groups of 5 or more as they are shoaling fish and like the company of others in their species and the minnows are colder water fish, keeping them in tropical heated water is just shortening their lifespan, why not put them in a smaller tank? the 62 litre tank would be fine for a group of them but notnecessarilyy for goldfish. Back to the question. I would recommendd blue rams, golden rams, Bolivianan rams or apistogramma's. As these fish are from South America, the decor they like is plants and wood. The plants provide the cover that they experience in the wild and the wood also provides cover. With these 2 elements, you should be able to keep them, be wary though, these fish prefer acidic pH of about 5.8-6.8 as this is what the pH is in their habitat. However, if the fish are tank bred, they have not xperienced the wild so they should be able to do fine in most conditions. I find easiestsest of those fish i mentioned to keep is Bolivianvian ram, the golden ram is the same as the blue ram except its a colour morph and these are a lot more sensitive to conditions, likewise i found with apistogrammas.

i hope that helps even if it is quite a long read lol

Answer 2

its hard to say without knowing your tank size really but heres a list of some popular dwarf cichlids

APISTO. AGASSIZI DOUBLE RED  

APISTO. BORELLII

APISTO. CACATUOIDES TRIPLE  RED

APISTO. CACATUOIDES SUNBURST

APISTO HONGSLOI SUPER RED

APISTO NIJSSENI

APISTO TRIFASCIATUS MACILIENSE

APISTO VIEJITA RIO METAE

DICROSSUS FILAMENTOSA

LAETACARA CURVICEPS

LAETACARA DORSIGER RED

MICROGEOPHAGUS RAMIREZI

MICROGEOPHAGUS RAMIREZI GOLD

MICROGEOPHAGUS RAMIREZI BALLOON

MICROGEOPHAGUS ALTISPINOSA   

NANACARA ANOMOLA

rams are nice also convics and firemouths stay small..again depends on the size of your tank.

Answer 3

well i have keyhole cichlids and cuckoo cichlids but rams are good too

but can i recomend getting a coupple more cory's

and the minnows are colder water

and clowns are higher temp