How many cichlids should I keep in one tank?

How many and what kind of community cichlids can we keep?

• My husband and I just got a 75 gallon tank, and we want to do something interesting with freshwater, so we were thinking a cichlid/community tank. I know not all cichlids are suited for this, but a lot of what I've read has suggested the following as good options for mixing with more basic, traditional community fish like tetras: -Keyhole cichlids -Kribensis (I've had one of these, I loved her) -Rams or Bolivian rams -Dwarf flag cichlids (laetacara curviceps) -Apistogrammas (perhaps agassizi?) -Dwarf pike cichlid -Brevis (if so, do I need a pair?) I've also heard conflicting things about community life with a severum, parrot, or festivum. I'm looking for suggestions on what will get along best with little community fish, and also, how many of them we can keep together. I'm not talking inches, I'm talking temperament and territorial needs. Thank you so much in advance!

• Answer:

  From experience the Keyholes and Kribensis should be fine. They can be a little agressive if they are breeding, but in a large tank the other fish can just swim away from their territory. The various Apisto species ( includes rams and bolivians ) will also be OK, but they are more sensitive to water conditions than the Kribs and Keyholes. I dont know the other species. Severum, Parrots etc are OK in that size tank, but they grow quite big and will eat smaller tankmates. Only keep those is you are going to get larger semi-agressive tankmates. Ian