I want to try setting up a tank with live plants in a 55g tank but I would like to have cichlids in the tank as well. Can anyone recommend cichlids/plant combinations? Or is this even possible?

It is possible to have cichlids in a tank with live plants but it'll be a piece of work due to the fact that cichlids are known to dig and uproot plants.You will have to find some means of anchoring the plants down in the tank in smal clay pots.

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great expectations are things that refuse to materialize and a promise never kept.

"Potted" Amazon Swords are pretty good even with oscar.

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TONY
Australian and proud of it!!
My Cichlidfish.com Home page
No Feeder Nazi
worldcichlids.com

what are some good low-mid light plants, all i have is a plant light, not nearly the output as vho or pc so i need something that will do good in low light conditions. thanks.

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From the imortal words of Jerry Gercia, "what a long strange journey this has been".

"to be old and wise you must first be young and stupid"

If I were to make the tank "heavily vegitated" would it be possible to add some non-cichlid fish to the tank and what breeds (if any) would work?

Do I understand this right: You want your tank to be heavily planted and would like to know which non-cichlid species would do well in it? Along with cichlids, or only non-cichlids?

If you only want non-cichlids, there are hundreds of species that would like it that way, depending on the water parameters. If you want to combine them with cichlids, it also depends on the cichlid species you have or want. Have you made a decision already? Most American dwarf cichlids can be kept with suiting non-cichlids and don't touch the plants. The bigger cichlids often uproot plants if not potted and/or require plant free areas for digging, and there are more restrictions for adding non-cichlids of course. So which cichlid species do you want? Or did I miss soemthing?

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Gisela
moppel@gismo.owl.de

I would like to have some of the smaller species of cichlids (I want some personality in the tank) along with live plants AND some non-cichlid fish as well (that won't only be bottom feeders (loaches will be in there) but swim at different levels. I ideally want an all-around tank.

Well, that's not impossible.

In a heavily planted tank I'd go for dwarf cichlids, along with cories, smaller plecos or other catfish and some species of smaller schooling and peaceful fish, i.e. tetras or barbs and their relatives. Fine gravel would be fine. Oh my, LOL. Also some decorative elements like bogwood, stones or caves as a territory for the cichlids. The easiest thing would be to chose the different species according to the water you have, i.e. rams and many tetras like it soft and a bit acidic, others thrive in harder water with neutral or slightly alcaline PH or don't care so much. Some years ago, I kept Nannacara anomala along with smaller barbs, cories and clown plecos in medium hard water with PH 7.5, and many plants. They spawned frequently, but the fry got eaten by their tank mates in most cases.

With medium sized cichlids, I'd use less plants to provide them with digging areas around their territories, but you can use hardy plants for background and corners, plants that grow on wood or stones (i.e. java fern, java moss) and floating plants. My firemouths lived in a tank like that, along with a group of swordtails and clown plecos (still the same).

Be careful when chosing the loaches - clown loaches get big and might bother the smaller fish. Today I saw two that let the 5" oscars int the same tank appear as dwarfs.

Just my 2 cents.

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Gisela
moppel@gismo.owl.de