i just found out that i had too many fish.. im gonna keep my 2 oscars in my 55... will a 29 be too small for 6 mix af and sm chlids to comfy??

A 55 is not big enough for two Oscars. As for the 29 gallon tank, it all depends on what fish you are going to put in there, a few small Cichlids would be okay, but you still can't go mad. Also, look at the requirements for some of these fish, some African cichlids really prefer a very high pH were South American cichlids prefer a lower pH.

I was wondering about the water requirements for African Cichlids as opposed to South American Cichlids. I know Oscars favor a low ph where Africans favor a high ph.Is there such a thing as a happy median. I think Nickiesue says she keeps Africans at a ph of 7.6. if thats so Oscars are fine with that.

jcrunk69 wrote:


a 55 is not large enough for 2 oscars for this you should be looking at a minimum 100 gallons.


as for your questions on the 29 it would obviously depend on what type of africans(there are over 900 described species from lake malawi alone) and what type of south central americans you are talking about.

The majority of fish that you buy nowadays are captive bred and are probably brought into this world in varying pH levels, in most cases not the pH they would live in the wild so they can live quite happily. However, many people who are fanatical about keeping their fish in the correct water requirements will strive to maintain pH level at a correct level. Whereas Oscars can live in fairly high pH, I much prefer my pH to be neutral or less because if I do find myself running into water quality problems, there is far less chance that I am going to lose any fish.

If you keep African cichlid that require a very high pH then you have to keep a much closer eye on your water conditions and you cannot afford to have any bad water conditions.

easy way to get a higher ph with africans is to use argonite substrate and you should be set.