[jjohnson3]

I have a 38 gallon tank. I want it to be a natural aquarium with cichlids. Any Ideas on how I could create this setup. What color gravel, rock or no rock, plants or no plants, caves or no caves. You know what I mean. I just want a beautiful setup that will thrive. Any comments or reccomendations are greatly appreciated.

 

[kingpoiuy]

I like to look at the picture area of this forum to get ideas. But I'll babble out some of mine cause I like to.

I'm assuming this is a standard shape 38g which is probably 36 inches long....

I would do one of these two things:
Sand bottom 1/2 - 3/4 inch (around 8 -10 lbs)
flat, rounded rock piled up long ways (not touching the sides) silicone together (i'd think it would end up coming 3 inches from any side and being about 8 inches high.

or:

a shell dweller tank with the same sand and all kinds of shells in the bottom. then a couple large rocks (rounded but more spherical) scattered around (probably only 3 of them).

 

[hollyfish2000]

You don't specify which geographical region you're interested in having cichlids, but some options:

1. South American planted tank with rams or apistos, tetras, cories, BN pleco
2. Shellies, as mentioned
3. I believe in that size tank you could do dwarf Africans, such as demonsoni. I'm not a keeper of those, so can't comment.

You could also do a South American planted tank with a pair of angels.

Once you've narrowed it down, we will all chime in with our respective opinions!