I need a colorful, somewhat large African Cichlid.?

You should hop over to www.cichlid-forum.com and check out the Haplichromines from lake Malawi, the males are just what you are looking for (large and colourful) - you can find them ranging from 6 inches long to over a foot long and available in a variety of colors from yellow to blue, to red to silver. There is information on them in the library of cichlid-forum and there are a ton of true cichlid fanatics that can give you better advice then you'll find here on keeping these fantastic fish.

The term "African Cichlid" is actually not very helpful - there are African cichlids from lake Malawi, lake Victoria, lake Tanganyika, and from the various Western Rivers. As a safe general rule it's not a good idea to mix locations, and even when mixing cichlids from the same location one must do proper research to ensure they are compatible.

Good luck, Malawi Cichlid tanks are among the most exotic and active freshwater tanks. Having a plan of the tank in advance like it seems you are doing is the wisest thing to do, and the site mentioned above is designed just for people like you!

You should get oscars. I have 2 and theyre awesome pets. Mine are both Tiger Oscars but they have different breeds like the Lemon Oscar which is bright yellow or the Pink Oscar. Mine are about a foot long now but will grow up to 16" in a big enough aquarium. Some oscars are aggressive so if you do decide to get some make sure you check out the aggressiveness on the different breeds. I have Convict Cichlids and Jack Dempseys and a Plecostomus in with mine and they seem to do great with each other. Check out www.oscarfishlover.com

Salt water tanks are beautiful, but very hard to care for, and expensive to maintain. Do you want to pay $3 or $25 for a fish that may only live a few weeks? Freshwater fish are cheaper, and don't require expensive equipment. The rule of thumb is one inch of fish per gallon. Neon tetras are small, quick, and colorful. Guppies, mollies, and platys are colorful, and easy to care for. 3 cory catfish would be a good idea to help clean up food on the bottom of the tank. They are easy to care for, and come in a few different colors. Try to get fish that will all be approximately the same size, so that no one ends up as lunch. Avoid barbs, they can be aggressive.

What about a Venustus it's has large gold rings on a green background. 10"

Edward's Mbuna it's blue all over with black edged fins. 6"

Discus its Orange body with turqoise striations around dorsal fin and anal fins 6"

Angel fish its silver body with black, vertical bars. 6"

Ocettatus its browny body with a blue or orange sheen. 2"

Zebra cichlid blue with white vertical stripes there are a number of geographical colour variations. 6"

Julie its yellow underside with thick black markings over its back to its dorsal fin 4"

Jewel Cichlid Red with tiny blue dots all over its body. 4"

Frontosa Black and white with vertical body stripes. 14"

Beansch's Aulonocara with Orange flanks and a blue face 6"

Convict cichlid Blue with black vertical bars.

These are some of the colourful ones I can think of :)

Have fun choosing your new fish!

EndlerGuppy

Electric yellows and Electric blues are both really bright african cichids. They are beautiful. They grow about 8" or 9".

hope I helped.

swordtails grow up to 14"