Cichlids are not one kind of fish — they are a family of several thousand species that share a personality (territorial, intelligent, parental) and almost nothing else. A 5 cm shell-dwelling Tanganyikan and a 35 cm Oscar are both cichlids, and putting them in the same tank ends badly. This guide sorts the 36 cichlids in our database into the four groups that actually matter when you are choosing one, with live care numbers for each.
Reviewed by the AquariumStocking team · Updated
Rift lake cichlids from Malawi and Tanganyika evolved in hard, alkaline water — pH 7.8–8.6 and high mineral content. South American cichlids evolved in soft, acidic blackwater at pH 6.0–7.0. You cannot mix these two worlds in one tank and keep both healthy; one group is always fighting its environment. Test your tap water before you fall in love with a species. Hard alkaline tap makes you a natural Malawi keeper; soft acidic tap makes rams and apistos easy and mbuna a chore.
With most fish you stock by bioload. With cichlids you stock by floor space and sight lines, because an adult male defends a territory measured in square centimetres of substrate, not litres of water. A single male jack dempsey will claim the entire footprint of a 200 L tank. That is why rift lake tanks are deliberately overstocked — crowding spreads aggression so no one fish gets hunted to death — while a New World cichlid tank is deliberately understocked with broken sight lines instead.
Cichlids eat like predators and produce waste to match. An Oscar at 35 cm has roughly the bioload of thirty neon tetras and will visibly dirty a tank in three days. Plan for oversized filtration (2–3× turnover of what the tank size suggests) and weekly 40–50% water changes on any tank holding a large cichlid. If that maintenance schedule sounds unrealistic, choose from the dwarf group instead — it is a far better outcome than an under-filtered Oscar.
Rams, apistogrammas, kribensis and keyholes give you the full cichlid experience — pair bonding, substrate spawning, parents herding fry — inside 80–150 L, alongside tetras and corydoras. Their aggression is real but localised to a 30 cm radius around a cave during spawning. If you want cichlid behaviour without rehoming your community, this is the group to shop in.
Mbuna need a rock wall with caves from substrate to surface and almost no plants. Tanganyikan shell dwellers need a sand bed 5 cm deep with escargot shells scattered across it. Discus and angelfish need vertical height, driftwood branches and calm flow. Apistogrammas need leaf litter and dark substrate. Getting the hardscape wrong is the most common reason a healthy cichlid still looks washed-out and hides — the fish is telling you the tank is not its habitat.
Blood parrots and flowerhorns are man-made hybrids with no wild counterpart. Blood parrots have deformed mouths that never fully close, which limits feeding and can cause problems with faster tank mates. Flowerhorns are single-specimen fish, often kept alone for life. Neither is a bad pet in the hands of an owner who knows this going in — but neither belongs in a first cichlid tank.
Central and South American cichlids are the big, characterful, personality-driven end of the family — the fish that recognise their owner and rearrange the decor overnight. They generally want soft-to-neutral water (pH 6.5–7.5), heavy filtration, and a footprint measured in metres rather than litres. Nearly all of these form pairs and become genuinely dangerous to tank mates while breeding, so plan a species tank or a very large community from the start.
Astronotus ocellatus
The classic wet pet — an Oscar learns feeding routines, follows you across the room and rearranges every decoration you place. It also reaches 35 cm, produces an enormous bioload and will swallow any tank mate that fits in its mouth. Choose an Oscar only if you can commit to a 400 L+ tank, oversized filtration and weekly large water changes for the next decade.
Rocio octofasciata
Named after a heavyweight boxer, and the name is the care sheet. Adult males claim an entire tank footprint and will hunt anything that enters it, but the electric-blue speckling over a dark body is one of the best colour payoffs in the family. Best as a single specimen or a bonded pair in a large tank with heavy rockwork and broken sight lines.
Andinoacara rivulatus
A South American showpiece with metallic green-blue scaling and, in mature males, a pronounced nuchal hump. Aggression is genuine and escalates sharply at maturity — many keepers who started with a mixed tank end up with a green terror species tank. Excellent choice for someone who wants one large, gorgeous, high-personality fish rather than a community.
Amatitlania nigrofasciata
The cichlid that teaches you cichlid behaviour. Hardy, cheap, tolerant of almost any water, and it will breed in a bucket — a pair produces fry every few weeks and defends them ferociously against fish five times their size. Keep as a pair in a species tank and have a plan for the fry, because your local store will stop taking them.
Thorichthys meeki
One of the few medium Central Americans mild enough for a large community. It bluffs rather than brawls — flaring the bright red throat and gill covers to look twice its size — and usually settles disputes without damage. A strong pick if you want visible cichlid attitude alongside larger tetras and catfish.
Heros efasciatus
Often called the "poor man's discus" for its tall, round profile, but far hardier and more forgiving. Largely peaceful for its size and can share a big tank with other robust South Americans, though it will graze soft plants. Gold and green forms are both common; a bonded pair in a well-planted 300 L is a genuinely beautiful display.
Andinoacara pulcher hybrid
The best-behaved medium cichlid in this list and an ideal first "real" cichlid. It is a colour form of the blue acara — the same calm temperament, but an intense electric blue across the whole body. Peaceful enough for a community with similarly sized fish, tolerant of a wide pH range, and it pairs and spawns readily on a flat stone. If you want a centerpiece cichlid without a management problem, start with the electric blue acara.
Amphilophus hybrid
A man-made hybrid with a rounded body, permanent "smile" and a mouth that cannot fully close. Personality is excellent — sociable, interactive, comparatively mild — but the deformed mouth means it feeds slowly and can lose out to faster tank mates. Buy with your eyes open regarding the hybrid ethics, and never buy dyed or tattooed specimens.
Hybrid (Amphilophus × Vieja crosses)
Another hybrid, bred purely for the exaggerated nuchal hump (kok) and bold pearling. Highly interactive with people and almost always kept alone, because it will kill essentially any tank mate. Treat it as a single-specimen pet in a large bare-ish tank with strong filtration, not as a community fish.
Dwarf cichlids stay under about 9 cm and bring pair bonding, cave spawning and colour into tanks as small as 80–150 L. They coexist with small schooling fish and bottom dwellers as long as there is one cave per pair and enough floor area to space territories out. This is the group to start with — the behaviour is identical to the big cichlids, just scaled to a tank you can actually maintain.
Mikrogeophagus ramirezi
The most colourful dwarf cichlid in the hobby — blue speckling over gold and a black eye stripe, all in a fish under 6 cm. The catch is fragility: rams need warm, clean, soft water and are intolerant of nitrate and of newly cycled tanks. Keep a bonded pair in a mature, stable, heavily planted tank and they are stunning; add them to a three-week-old tank and they die.
Mikrogeophagus altispinosus
Everything a german blue ram is, minus the fragility. It runs cooler, tolerates a wider pH range, forgives water-quality mistakes and lives noticeably longer — the sensible ram for anyone who is not chasing maximum colour. Sandy substrate lets it sift naturally, and a pair will spawn on a flat stone in a normal community tank. This is the dwarf cichlid we recommend most often to beginners.
Apistogramma cacatuoides
The cockatoo dwarf — males develop spiked, flame-coloured dorsal fins and hold small harems in leaf-littered blackwater. It wants soft acidic water, dark substrate, leaf litter and multiple caves so that each female can claim one. Rewarding for keepers who enjoy watching genuine social structure play out in a nano-sized fish.
Pelvicachromis pulcher
A West African dwarf and one of the easiest cichlids to breed — the female flashes a cherry-red belly when ready and the pair excavate a cave together. Hardier and more pH-flexible than South American dwarfs, which makes it forgiving in average tap water. Peaceful outside of breeding, then briefly territorial around the cave.
Cleithracara maronii
The shyest and most peaceful cichlid on this page — a soft beige fish with a keyhole-shaped black mark that darkens with mood. It genuinely will not bully a community, which is rare in this family, but it is easily intimidated in return and needs cover and calm tank mates to come out. The right pick if you want cichlid pair behaviour in a peaceful planted community.
Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika hold the hard-water, high-pH cichlids — mbuna grazing algae off rock walls, peacocks hunting sand, and Tanganyikan specialists living in shells and rock rubble. They need pH 7.8–8.6, mineral-rich water, a rock-heavy hardscape and deliberate crowding to diffuse aggression. Plants are mostly off the menu for mbuna, which eat or uproot them. The jewel cichlid at the end is the outlier here: a West African river fish, not a rift lake species, but it lives with the same "aggressive African" reputation and is included so you can tell them apart.
Labidochromis caeruleus
The gateway mbuna — solid electric yellow with a black dorsal margin, and one of the mildest personalities in Lake Malawi. It works in mixed Malawi tanks where more aggressive mbuna would need managing, and the colour holds year-round in both sexes. Keep in a group of one male to several females over a rock-heavy hardscape.
Maylandia estherae
A vivid orange mbuna that is much bolder than its cheerful colour suggests — males are persistently territorial and will chase across an entire tank. Its saving grace is hardiness: it thrives in hard alkaline water and eats anything vegetable-based. Stock it in a crowded Malawi tank with plenty of rock so the aggression stays diffused rather than focused on one victim.
Pseudotropheus demasoni
A small, striped, extremely feisty mbuna with a famous stocking rule: keep twelve or more, or keep none. In small groups the dominant male eliminates the others one by one; in a large group the aggression spreads out and the colony stabilises. For experienced Malawi keepers with a long tank and a lot of rock.
Pseudotropheus acei
A purple-blue mbuna with yellow fins that swims in open water rather than hugging rock, which makes it a useful visual layer in a Malawi tank. It is one of the more peaceable mbuna and works well as a first African cichlid alongside yellow labs. Grows larger than most mbuna, so give it length to cruise.
Iodotropheus sprengerae
Muted rust-and-lavender colouring and, more importantly, one of the calmest temperaments in the mbuna group. It is the species experienced keepers reach for when a Malawi tank has an aggression problem that needs diluting rather than escalating. Vegetable-heavy diet, rockwork, hard alkaline water.
Aulonocara sp.
Malawi peacocks (Aulonocara) hunt over open sand rather than grazing rock, and males come in metallic blue, orange and yellow strains. They are less aggressive than mbuna but should not be mixed with them — mbuna out-compete them for food and stress them out. Build a sand-and-rock Malawi tank of peacocks and haps instead, one male per strain to keep colours clean.
Sciaenochromis fryeri
A hap rather than an mbuna — a larger open-water predator whose mature males turn an almost unreal metallic blue. It needs length to swim and small tank mates it cannot swallow, so pair with peacocks and other haps, never with tiny fish. One of the strongest visual centrepieces in Malawi keeping.
Cyphotilapia frontosa
The Tanganyikan icon — a slow, deep-bodied, blue-and-white barred fish with a heavy nuchal hump on adult males. It grows large, lives 20+ years and is best kept as a colony of one male to several females in a deep tank. Calm and stately rather than aggressive, but it will eat any fish small enough to inhale at night.
Tropheus duboisi
Juveniles are black with white polka dots; adults trade that for a broad white or yellow band. Tropheus are strict herbivores with a specialised gut, and feeding them protein-rich food causes fatal bloat — they need a high-fibre, spirulina-based diet and nothing else. Keep in a large colony over rock. Advanced fish with a very specific care rule.
Neolamprologus multifasciatus
Tanganyikan shell dwellers live their whole lives around a single empty snail shell on a sand bed, and they are tiny — which means a full colony fits in a tank most people would call a nano. They dig, they rearrange, they defend their shell against your hand, and they breed inside it. The best way to keep African cichlids without a large tank.
Melanochromis auratus
Golden with black stripes as a juvenile, near-black with pale stripes as a dominant male — and one of the most relentlessly aggressive mbuna in Lake Malawi. It is cheap and widely sold, which catches out beginners: a single male will clear a 200 L tank of rivals. Keep only in a long, heavily rocked, crowded Malawi tank with an experienced hand on the stocking.
Pseudotropheus crabro
A chunky yellow-and-black barred mbuna that lives around catfish caves in the wild, stealing eggs. It grows larger than most mbuna and turns dark and territorial with maturity, so give it length and rock structure rather than a tall tank. Robust, long-lived and best with similarly assertive Malawi species.
Maylandia callainos
Solid metallic blue from nose to tail — the mbuna people buy for pure colour. Temperament sits close to the red zebra it is related to: persistently territorial, but manageable in a crowded rock-heavy tank with one male to several females. Vegetable-based diet and hard alkaline water are non-negotiable.
Nimbochromis livingstonii
A Malawi hap that hunts by playing dead on the sand, then ambushing small fish that come to investigate. That behaviour tells you the stocking rule: nothing small enough to swallow. It needs a large sandy footprint, open swimming space and hap or peacock tank mates of similar size.
Nimbochromis venustus
The giant "gold" hap — mottled juveniles mature into large males with a blue face and yellow blaze. Another sand-hunting predator that grows well past mbuna size, so it belongs in a big tank with haps and peacocks, never with mbuna or small fish. Calm for its size but genuinely predatory.
Aulonocara sp. 'OB'
A line-bred marbled (orange-blotch) Aulonocara: blue or orange base scattered with irregular black blotches, no two fish alike. Care is standard peacock — sand, scattered rock, hard alkaline water, one male per strain — but as a man-made colour form it should be kept away from wild-type peacocks if you care about clean bloodlines.
Aulonocara baenschi
The yellow Aulonocara, with a blue face and a body that intensifies to deep gold in a settled dominant male. One of the milder Malawi cichlids and a good first peacock — it will not hold colour if mbuna are bullying it, so build a peacock-and-hap tank instead. Feed sinking foods it can hunt from sand.
Altolamprologus calvus
A slow, pearl-spotted Tanganyikan predator with a laterally compressed body built for slipping into rock crevices. It grows slowly and behaves calmly — the opposite of Malawi mbuna — but it will eat shrimp and fry. Pairs with shell dwellers and other Tanganyikans over a rock-and-sand hardscape.
Altolamprologus compressiceps
The close relative of the calvus, with the same knife-thin profile and ambush habit, usually sold in yellow or gold morphs. Patient keepers get a striking, long-lived fish; impatient ones give up on how slowly it grows. Hard alkaline Tanganyikan water, deep rockwork, and tank mates too large to be swallowed.
Hemichromis bimaculatus
A West African river cichlid rather than a rift lake fish, and a spectacular one — spawning adults turn deep blood-red with iridescent blue spangles. It is also one of the most aggressive fish in this guide, especially as a breeding pair, and routinely kills tank mates in tanks under 200 L. Species tank, hard-ish neutral water, and a keeper who wants the colour badly enough.
Angelfish and discus are the tall, slow, display cichlids that anchor a planted South American tank. Both want height over length, warm soft water, calm flow and a group rather than a pair when young. They are the least "cichlid-like" cichlids in temperament — but they still pair off, still claim a spawning site, and still bully anything that comes near it.
Pterophyllum scalare
The tall, trailing-finned silhouette that most people picture when they think "aquarium fish" — and a genuine cichlid underneath. It needs height rather than length, and it will eat neon tetras once fully grown, which surprises a lot of community keepers. Buy a group of five or six juveniles, let a pair form naturally, and be ready to rehome the rest when the pair claims the tank.
Symphysodon aequifasciatus
The showcase fish of the South American world — a disc-shaped, slow-moving cichlid that needs warm, soft, immaculately clean water and a group of at least five to feel secure. Water quality is not negotiable: discus keepers do large frequent water changes and use bare-bottom or lightly planted tanks to keep nitrate near zero. Beautiful, expensive, and the right project for someone who enjoys the maintenance rather than tolerating it.
Sort by any column — tap a header to reorder.
| Multi Shell Dweller | 10 gallons | 73-81°F | 7.5–9 | 5 cm (2") | Beginner | Semi-aggressive |
| German Blue Ram | 20 gallons | 79-86°F | 5.5–7 | 7 cm (2.8") | Intermediate | Peaceful |
| Bolivian Ram | 20 gallons | 72-79°F | 6–7.5 | 8 cm (3.1") | Beginner | Peaceful |
| Apistogramma Cacatuoides | 20 gallons | 75-82°F | 6–7.5 | 8 cm (3.1") | Intermediate | Semi-aggressive |
| Kribensis | 20 gallons | 75-82°F | 6–7.5 | 10 cm (3.9") | Beginner | Semi-aggressive |
| Keyhole Cichlid | 30 gallons | 72-82°F | 6–7.5 | 10 cm (3.9") | Beginner | Peaceful |
| Convict Cichlid | 40 gallons | 72-82°F | 6.5–8 | 12 cm (4.7") | Beginner | Aggressive |
| Electric Blue Acara | 40 gallons | 72-82°F | 6.5–8 | 15 cm (5.9") | Beginner | Semi-aggressive |
| Rusty Cichlid | 40 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 10 cm (3.9") | Beginner | Peaceful |
| Calvus | 40 gallons | 75-81°F | 7.8–9 | 15 cm (5.9") | Intermediate | Semi-aggressive |
| Compressiceps | 40 gallons | 75-81°F | 7.8–9 | 15 cm (5.9") | Intermediate | Semi-aggressive |
| Angelfish | 40 gallons | 75-86°F | 6–7.5 | 15 cm (5.9") | Intermediate | Semi-aggressive |
| Yellow Lab | 50 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 10 cm (3.9") | Beginner | Semi-aggressive |
| Firemouth Cichlid | 55 gallons | 75-82°F | 6.5–8 | 15 cm (5.9") | Beginner | Semi-aggressive |
| Blood Parrot Cichlid | 55 gallons | 75-82°F | 6.5–7.5 | 20 cm (7.9") | Beginner | Semi-aggressive |
| Red Zebra | 55 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 13 cm (5.1") | Intermediate | Aggressive |
| Demasoni | 55 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 8 cm (3.1") | Intermediate | Aggressive |
| Peacock Cichlid | 55 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 15 cm (5.9") | Beginner | Semi-aggressive |
| Auratus Cichlid | 55 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 11 cm (4.3") | Advanced | Aggressive |
| Cobalt Blue Zebra | 55 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 13 cm (5.1") | Intermediate | Aggressive |
| OB Peacock | 55 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 15 cm (5.9") | Intermediate | Semi-aggressive |
| Sunshine Peacock | 55 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 13 cm (5.1") | Intermediate | Semi-aggressive |
| Jewel Cichlid | 55 gallons | 72-82°F | 6.5–7.5 | 15 cm (5.9") | Intermediate | Aggressive |
| Discus | 70 gallons | 82-90°F | 5.5–7 | 20 cm (7.9") | Advanced | Peaceful |
| Oscar | 75 gallons | 73-82°F | 6–8 | 35 cm (13.8") | Intermediate | Aggressive |
| Jack Dempsey | 75 gallons | 72-82°F | 6.5–8 | 25 cm (9.8") | Intermediate | Aggressive |
| Green Terror | 75 gallons | 68-79°F | 6.5–8 | 30 cm (11.8") | Intermediate | Aggressive |
| Severum | 75 gallons | 75-82°F | 6–7.5 | 25 cm (9.8") | Intermediate | Semi-aggressive |
| Flowerhorn Cichlid | 75 gallons | 79-86°F | 7–8 | 30 cm (11.8") | Intermediate | Aggressive |
| Acei Cichlid | 75 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 15 cm (5.9") | Beginner | Peaceful |
| Electric Blue Hap | 75 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 16 cm (6.3") | Intermediate | Semi-aggressive |
| Tropheus Duboisi | 75 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.8–9 | 12 cm (4.7") | Advanced | Aggressive |
| Bumblebee Cichlid | 75 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 15 cm (5.9") | Advanced | Aggressive |
| Frontosa | 125 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.8–9 | 35 cm (13.8") | Intermediate | Semi-aggressive |
| Livingstoni Cichlid | 125 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 25 cm (9.8") | Advanced | Aggressive |
| Venustus Cichlid | 125 gallons | 75-82°F | 7.5–8.8 | 25 cm (9.8") | Advanced | Aggressive |
Cichlids split into four practical groups: New World (Central and South American) cichlids such as oscars, jack dempseys and convicts; dwarf cichlids under about 9 cm such as rams, apistogrammas, kribensis and keyholes; African rift lake cichlids from Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika such as yellow labs, red zebras, peacocks and frontosa; and tall centerpiece South Americans, namely angelfish and discus. The groups differ mainly in water chemistry and adult size, which is why they are usually kept separately.
The bolivian ram is the easiest dwarf cichlid — hardy, tolerant of a wide pH range and peaceful enough for a community tank. For a larger fish, the electric blue acara is the calmest medium cichlid and the kribensis is the easiest to breed. Yellow labs are the easiest African rift lake cichlid if your tap water is hard and alkaline.
It is not recommended. African rift lake cichlids need hard alkaline water around pH 7.8–8.6, while South American cichlids come from soft acidic blackwater around pH 6.0–7.0. Any compromise leaves one group chronically stressed, and mbuna aggression levels also differ sharply from most South American species. Choose one region and build the tank around it.
It depends entirely on the group. Shell dwellers and dwarf cichlids such as rams and apistogrammas work in 80–150 L. Medium cichlids like firemouths, electric blue acaras and kribensis want 150–250 L. Malawi mbuna and peacock communities need 250 L+ of length. Large New World cichlids such as oscars, green terrors and flowerhorns need 400 L or more per adult. Run your shortlist through our stocking calculator before you buy.
Cichlids are substrate-spawning, parental fish — they defend a fixed territory around a cave or flat stone and guard their fry actively rather than scattering eggs and leaving. That instinct does not switch off in an aquarium, so aggression is usually about floor space and sight lines rather than the fish being unusually mean. Breaking up sight lines with rock and wood, providing one cave per pair, and either crowding (rift lake) or understocking (New World) are the standard ways of managing it.
