CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hi I'm finally new to the aquarium hobby, i have had a 55 gal freshwater up and running for almost a year, i was told by my uncle that cichlids are the best fish.

i was wondering what the minimum tank size for a pair of blue acaras is, also what type of substrate is best, also what filter is best, i was reading that i should probably go with a canister filter or a wet/dry filter cause of the large amount of
waste these fish produce, any thoughts would be very helpful

this would be my first tank with cichlids

You've had the 55 up and running for a year?  What substrate and filtration are you using now?

my current filter is an AquaClear 70 and the substrate is small sized pebble,

i'm thinking about moving my tetras into a 30 gal and using the 55 as my tank for the acaras

Sounds fine!  At some point as the Acaras grow, you might want to add a 2nd filter -- I have 2 filters on all my cichlid tanks.  But until they get larger and maybe start spawning the setup you have should be perfectly OK.

I was thinking that i would eventually replace my AquaClear 70 filter with a canister filter or a wet/dry filter...where i am it seems that canister filters are more readily avail.

The Aquaclear is an excellent filter.  You might consider adding a cannister.  For instance, on one of my 55's I'm running a Penguin 300 power filter, and an Eheim 2213 cannister.  On another, i'm running a similar Penguin with an Aquaclear 110.  Both work out very well.

not really a question about blue acaras, but i saw another fish that's just as beautiful, at the lfs they were called blue alhi  is a 55 gal tank big enough for a pair?

The Ahli is an African rift lake cichlid -- very pretty -- get to be about 7".  I'm not the one to ask about Africans as far as behavior.  If you're looking for something blue, I have a bunch of H. carpintis "Escondidio" youngsters if you're interested. Here's a pic and a video:





These guys get a little larger than Acaras, but this pair is in a 55.