I certainly haven't had them all, but pretty much all my fish keeping life, including as a kid, I've had cichlids I actually started with piranhas , back when I could buy them for 25 cents at dime size, from the dime store... back then I found their scrappy nature interesting... I did Oscars for a long time, even the flowery looking angels or smaller varieties just like to kill each other... there are so many other families of fish that are interesting, that not every member is a serial killer I guess now that I'm old, it's past time to explore something else... I still have a mixed tank of cichlids, that seems to be working OK, ( for cichlids ) but once every 3-4 months, someone gets pushed into a corner, and the stress gets to them, and at that rate, in a couple years, it'll look like an Oscar tank, with a single occupant... yes, each family still does have a mass murderer in the family closet, But I'm finding more joy in my old age, with community tanks, that don't resemble a WWE cage match ... I've never really had tetras before, or barbs, or loaches, and maybe I'm researching better, but I'm finding I'm enjoying those tanks more than the Cichlid tank... one family I'm enjoying more lately, are the silver dollars... I always had plain ones in the past, but there are a lot of other varieties, and I'll likely be replacing the cichlids as they go, with new to me varieties of dollars, as they seem to be able to cohabitate... not giving up fish, just thinking long and hard, before buying another cichlid...
BTW... I know piranha 's are not cichlids... but they are like a "gateway drug" to the cichlid family
BTW... I know piranha 's are not cichlids... but they are like a "gateway drug" to the cichlid family
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