Malawi cichlids are fish who live in large, packed schools. But a 30 gallon just doesn’t have the capacity for that kind of bioload. So I’d stick with no more than 5 cichlids. They can be quite aggressive. I wouldn’t worry too much about breeding. You’ll probably end up with mostly males since they are prettier for the aquarium trade.

To be honest, and not nasty or mean, if you don’t want aggression, you need to get a different tank then a 29 gallon tank. You are going to get this at some point, unless you know how to sex a group when they are fry. Basically, it’s not enough effective space to keep a group here when you end up with more then one male.

At the beginning, sure you’ll be fine. They will get spaces set up in the tank, but sooner or later in a tank that size, one of the males in a group, if there are more then one, is going to exert itself and try to take over the whole thing. Anyone that is a male and cannot compete, will go hide in the corner and wait to die. If you want a group, I suggest getting an older fish, that you can accurately sex, key on getting one male, and the rest females. How many will depend on what species you want.

cichids grow to be about 4 in some get bigger but if you herd that 1inch per gallon that means no More that 5…so i would stick w/ 5

Instead of those big cichlids, try some angelfish. They are cichlids, but they are a lot smaller. They breed if you get like 6-8 juvies and have them pair up, but you can’t keep 6-8 angelfish (adults) in a 29 gallon tank.