Cichlids....WOW!

[Franky099]

I have never been familiar with the Cichlid family. I have never kept them personally. When someone says Cichlid, I think the common "mixed africans" that you see in pet stores. I stopped by my LFS yesterday to get some more cories, and in the front tank they had these BEAUTIFUL cichlids. One especially stood out to me. They had them all listed on the tank, but the High School kid working there didnt know what was what. They were all in the 40-60 dollar range. The kid said, "I'll be glad to bag one up for ya!" I just looked at him and walked away. I wanted to say "Gee, do you think they will go well with my community livebearing tank? Idiot. I don't have room right now for a large Cichlid tank, but they sure do have me intrigued. I will try to find a picture of the one that caught my eye, so I can learn more about them.

Congratulations to you wonderful Cichlid people!! Now I know what I'm missing!!

Amy

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Give us some details about it. A description perhaps and we will help you find info/pics of them.

 

[Verse914]

Welcome to the cichlid world Amy You should definitely get a tank to house some cichlids. They have great personalities and are very active.

 

[levia7han]

hehe. Now that I have found cichlids I find most "regular" FW fish kinda boring..... What to do with my community tank now....

Lev

 

[catfishmike]

once you get the cichlid bug it's a snowball effect from there.cichlids are so fascinating that other fish just seen dull.i know after that first day i bought my blue rams i was in trouble.now i'm up to a ram a sev and a red zebra,and hoping for some n.birchardis

 

[Managuense]

yep, before long your cichlid tank is larger than any piece of furniture in your house and you are saving vegetables from your dinner to feed to your fish while your wife rolls her eyes.

or perhaps that is only me?

 

[420Loach]

hehehe, i pulled that one the other day. grabbing lettuce and cucumber out of the salad to save for my loaches/apple snails.

ive recently been finding cichlids quite intresting as well. soulfish showed me a bunch of links that got me going hehe. ill wait until i get another tank, but ill definitley have a cichlid tank in the future...right next to the loach tank.

 

[bobrob]

Yea I really want to get into cichlids too, but I dont have the room. Its like whenever someone becomes a christian theyre like "Ive found Jesus" and its like "I found cichlids" the someone says thats the first big step my friend.

 

[Franky099]

ROFLMAO @ bobrob, thats hilarious. I am going back to the LFS today, to try to find someone who knows which fish is which, and I'll write the names down so I can find more info on them, and of course share my findings with you all.



Amy

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Ahhhhh the wait!!!!

I wanna know what it is. What did it look like?

I love cichlids.

 

[Franky099]

Ok, ok, here we go.

They were of the Haplochromis species.

The first one listed said Halpochromis Compressisceps and was priced at 26.99

The second was Electric Blue Haps, priced at 62.99

The third, was a Red Emp. priced at 62.99 (this was the one that really cought my eye the day before)

The fourth was a Sunshine Hap, priced at 62.99

And the last one listed was Pseudotropheus - Jumbo Assorted, priced at 26.99

The yellow Kribs also caught my eye, as well as the "Mixed african cichlids" Can the africans be in the same tank as the Haps?

Please, bring on the links, so I may learn you ways!!

I don't have room right now (ok, thats a lie) for another tank, but I will be moving in August and will certainly have a cichlid tank by then! There is a 90 gallon wave tank that I have my eye on.....its 900.00 bucks!!

Are those fish prices to high? This fish store is known for having crazy-high prices.

Thanks in advace for the links.

Verse, I checked out your pics...WOW!!

Amy

 

[TaffyFish]

Cichlid addiction? I don't know what you're talking about.....the wife probably does though...

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Yes Mixed Africans can go with Haps.

Prices sound high to me, but depends on the quality and size i guess.

www.cichlid-forum.com good cichlid place to visit.

 

[Verse914]

How big are these fish? The prices are VERY high imo. You would be better off ordering online and getting beautiful wild caught or F1 fish.

Check out the prices at http://ohiexchange.com/armke/list.htm Keep in mind that shipping will be 40-70 more, but your getting high quality fish. Ive gotten most of my fish from Armkes and cichlidlovers.com.

 

[Franky099]

I thought you would say the prices were high. They fish were 5-6 inches, some maybe a little larger. They were nice looking fish, but certainly not the best of the best.

Thanks for the links, I will check them out!

Amy

 

[Purple]

Those prices are very very high - although most of the fish we buy are considerably smaller/younger - they are also about 90% cheaper.

Shop around if you can and spend what you save on the fish on kit for your tank.

 

[catfishmike]

hey mana no your not the only one.today i was at a manufacturer of acrylic tanks and i was arguing that 96"x24"x36 really wasn't a big tank if you compare it to a large entertainment center.i got the rolly eyes too.yea taffy i think all spouses of cichlid owners know what your talking about

 

[Franky099]

Can I have live plants with such fish, or will they just re-arrange them all for me?

 

[Managuense]

that depends upon the species, but it is reasonably safe to say that MOST of them like to dig up plants, yes.

or, that they are just digging NEXT to the plants so that they inadvertently get dug-up.

it is always fun to come home and see all of your plants floating around your tank like a swimming pool.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

You can counter that by wedging plant inbetween rocks.

Be sure to reserch because these fish might even eat the plants.

I've heard Java Ferns in rocks would work well and look pretty good.........or on driftwood.