I am getting back into the hobby and setting up a 55 gallon for my son for christmas. I live in sarasota fl and would appreciate any recommendations for a good tampa bay area shop that sells healthy fish. specifically looking for dwarf pseudochromis sp, melanochromis johanni ,labidochromis . I have some great reef shops around but know nothing about good cichlid shops. Thanks alot

Welcome and good luck with your tank setup. I don't live in Florida so can't be a help, but welcome

Ardan

Welcome to ACF!

Thanks! I found the fish I want from a place called live fish direct.com in Utah. Any experiences with them?
What I am considering for my 55 is 1 male and 2 female labidochromis caeruleus,1 male and 2 female pseudotropheus acei, 1 male and 2 female cynotilapia afra, and 1 male and 2 female melanochromis johanni

My system will be set up as such Substrate of gravel/aragonite, 100 lbs of lava rock to form a reef, several pieces of slate, RO/DI with seachem cichlid salt and buffer, external filtration with biowheel, 2 40 watt fluorescents at a 14 h photoperiod. I will cycle the tank with a few tiger barbs until nitrate is zero Does this sound like I'm on the right track?

Is that mix of fish a good idea? Thanks

Only suggestions would be to go with more than a trio of each, more like 4 or 5 would be better. Other is to keep an eye on the Melanochromis, they can be aggressive.

Sounds like you have a solid plan and good luck with the new set-up!!