I have a freshwater 50 gal with some cichlids.  I have never really had a planted aquarium before and was wondering what plants would be good.  Thanks for reading:)

Welcome to the forum!  Some cichlids dig and/or eat plants.  You'll want to know beforehand if yours are prone to do that, so you don't waste your time planting their tank. 

You will already know if they like to dig.  If they only dig and don't eat plants, you can use plants that don't root into the substrate, like java fern or java moss, or floating plants like hornwort or water sprite.  Some people put their plants in pots and cover them with big stones so the fish can't dig up the plant. 

If they like to eat plants, you can try java fern.  It's about the least popular among plant eaters.  It must not taste that great.  If your fish eat java fern, your only alternative is plastic. 

The smaller cichlids like apistogrammas and rams don't bother plants.  Kribs are also fine with plants.  What kind do you have?

Thanks,  The cichlids I have are yellow labs. I bought 2 like 3 years ago from Trilby Tropicals-I now have around 17 and just had to set up another tank 2day.  They dont dig and i had some hornwort floating on the top and they ate it all.  I'll try some java fern.  Thanks for the advice!!!

Try to get an inexpensive piece.  If it doesn't get eaten, you can get more later.

violet said :

I have a freshwater 50 gal with some cichlids.  I have never really had a planted aquarium before and was wondering what plants would be good.  Thanks for reading:)