jewel cichlids.

Question
QUESTION: what other fish can live with these.... i have a 55 gal tank and i have 4 jewels in it but i want to have some other fish but the people at the fish store said that they didn't have any thing .... i really like the color of them . i am looking for more cichlids like them ....
ANSWER: Hi Donald,
 Jewel fish are rather aggressive, particularly if they spawn.

You must have a lot of structure in the tank if you want other fish in there as well.  Structure is wood, rock, plants, etc.  I don't mean one piece of wood and a plant; you need a LOT of stuff in there to break up the space.  

 If you have that, you might consider adding some kribensis, which is another West African cichlid.  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Do you think that we should just keep with the Jewel and add some more and not add other different fish?

Answer
Hi Donald,
  That choice is yours.  If you add more jewels, you are still going to need to add the structure, otherwise the jewels will fight intensely among themselves.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>