Hi guys I'm thinking about setting up an aquarium indoors, I'm thinking of cichlids what size tank should i be looking at? I was thinking about 35-40 gal is that ok? A good friend of mine has a small tank with random tropicals in and he is always adding chemicals to the water surely this is not good, I have a good balance in the garden pond can you do the same for a tank indoors or are the chemicals compulsory?

If you stick to small cichlids, then a 30 or 40 gallon tank is fine. If you want some larger African cichlids, then something 55 gallons or more makes sense. I've never had any cichlids. The South American cichlids in general tolerate softer water while the African cichlids in general like hard water. What kind of cichlids did you want to get?

If you're getting African cichlids and have soft water, you will have to add water hardening chemicals with each water change.

I rarely use chemicals in my tanks. I just add aquarium salt, good bacteria (Stress-Zyme and BZT), and Stress-Coat (in my case to deactivate possible copper from out pipes; we have a well so no chlorine) with water changes.