New tank 4 foot tank + list of fish I like

[obie]

Hi I have just got a new tank, I have not had a tank for some years now but really want to make up a really colorfull tank with some cool fish. I am not too good at knowing what fish to put togehter. What I have done is copy all the pics of the fish I like at http://www.obie.us/fish/cichlidae/ I am sure a lot of these would not go well together or grow to large.

What I would like to achive is a tank of fish that are very colorfull yet very very active, I like the blues and yellows.

If you have any suggestions about the list of fish I have looked at above please let me know of your thoughts what I should put together in my tank.

The list of the fish is as follows:
Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (Myers & Harry, 1948)
nasuta-mukusa-01
Ophthalmotilapia boops (Boulenger, 1901)
Ophthalmotilapia ventralis (Boulenger, 1898)
Paratilapia polleni Bleeker, 1868
Placidochromis milomo (Oliver, 1989)
Placidochromis phenochilus Trewavas, 1935
Placidochromis sp. 'phenochilus Tanzania'
Pterophyllum altum Pellegrin, 1903
Retroculus lapidifer (De Castelnau, 1855) 2
Satanoperca daemon (Heckel, 1840)
Tangachromis dhanisi (Poll, 1949)
Theraps coeruleus Stawikowski & Werner, 1987
Theraps irregulare Günther, 1862
Theraps lentiginosus (Steindachner, 1864)
Thorichthys affinis (Günther, 1862)
Thorichthys helleri (Steindachner, 1864)
Thorichthys maculipinnis (Steindachner, 1864)
Tilapia brevimanus Boulenger, 1911
Tilapia buttikoferi (Hubrecht, 1881)
tro-duboisi
Vieja argentea Allgayer, 1991
Xenotilapia spiloptera Poll & Stewart, 1975
All images at http://www.obie.us/fish/cichlidae/

[Pam Chin]

Hi Obie!

It is best to pick cichlids from one area, on your list you have a wide vareity cichlids from all over!! So you are right, that is not going to work. What you need to do is go back over your list and decide what area you want to work with. Beauty and color are in the eye of the beholder!!! So you pick the area, Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganyika, Central America, Madgascar, South America, or West Africa.

It appears that if you want lots of blues and yellows, Lake Malawi is probably going to be your best bet. You can pick a few that catch your eye and then we can go from there. I think a bio-tope type tank is best, with cichlids from one area, you then duplicate their natural environment in your tank. These types of tanks seem to work best, because the water conditions and diets are similar, and some may even be found together naturally in the wild.

I'll be glad to help you, but we need to narrow it down!!