good cichlid tank mates?

[budwick weiser]

so once my 136 gallon tank is done, i'm going to put in american cichlids. i know i want to put in a couple of electric blue jack dempseys, an oscar, and a big weird looking pleco. what else could i put in there that would be fun to look at and watch?

[ElijahTurtle]

I dunno, Oscars are pretty personable. I've seen videos of people petting them & playing ball with them by giving them a ping pong ball to push around.

[fishyjoe24]

blood parrots are cool too. do you want to do african or american cichlids.

[budwick weiser]

blood parrots are cool too. do you want to do african or american cichlids.


american

[EAST_TX_RN]

Can I ask a dumb question? Are sunfish, aka perches, classified under american cichlids? I heard somewhere they were.

[Jim2982]

I think perches are cichlids. Aren't they the ones people call Texas Cichlids? Not a dumb question, btw. I'd like to know, too! ;)

[misplacedsooner]

no they are not cichlids. alot of people down here call bluegills and such perch but they arent. the yellow perch is shaped like a bass with vertical stripes. texas cichlids are our only native cichlids although many have been introduced from stupid people releasing them, mainly in florida area i think.

[China8USA]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrarchidae

They are similar and occupy the same niches.

[Peanut_Power]

Hmm....EBJD in there eh? Are you wanting to do SA or CA cichlids? CA generally get larger, are more aggressive, and more or less tend to show more colors. SA are personally my fav...absolutely awesome fish!! You should look into either Satanoperca or Uaru....those would be a good combo with your fish...;)