Hello Cichlid Keepers .

[Back in the fold]

I am curious . How many cichlid keepers are there on The Great TFF Forum ? I can think of a few offhand like @gwand and others but who is keeping what and why ? Most posts I read seem to indicate a preference for smaller cichlids . Is anyone keeping the big ones ? Jack Dempsey’s or Severum ? I do not , at present , have any cichlids other than one lone Angelfish but I’m getting the bug . Bolivian Rams appeal to me as do Kribensis and , dare I hope , Festivum .

 

[anewbie]

I have some 10 inch geo dicrozoster, a group of wc discus, 4 chocolate cichild, and a few 6 inch or so flag cichild.
I have some a. sp bluketa, a. winkelfleck, a. ladisalo, a. elizabeth, a. wolli, a. sp ipiranga, i. bimaculata, krobia, a. 65. I think that is most but not all of them - oh i also have b. cupido, b. wavarnia, a. norbert, laetacara this and that.

I'm sure i missed a few others.

If you get a mesonauta go with egregius instead of festivum you will thank me later.

 

[AJ356]

I have a colony of Kribensis (P Pulcher) that were born here just over a year ago

However, central americans are my main passion......
I have cryptoheros cutteri, amatitlania sajica, honduran red point and convict cichlid

I also have lots of young polar blue's which some people know as polar parrots. This is tricky to talk about, but thought I'd be honest. I know there is a lot of hate for that due to their deformities. It's something I got into a while back due to their personality as much as anything. I got hooked on them, and then found it a bit late to then "unlearn" the appeal.

I don't have any tanks big enough to house more than two adult (smaller) central americans so my projects are all about breeding and raising fry.

When I move home I am going to probably drop the polar blues and focus on the cutteri, sajica, honduran red points, and hopefully get myself my dream fish that I cannot yet source and that is amatitlania nanolutea (I have a thing for yellow colouration in a fish)

Ideally, I'd like to get a bigger tank and keep a small selection of the Kribensis in a Kribensis only planted tank.

I also have a dream of keeping and breeding really nice German Blue Rams one day. I love Rams in general, from a behaviour perspective.

I'm actually not into any fish that grow bigger than about 7" - I just don't have the attraction. If some of the vieja cichlids maxed out at 7 or 8" I'd be in there like a shot, especially Argentea.

 

[gwand]

I enjoy fish approximately 3 inches or less. Over 8 tanks I have Neolamprologus multifasciatus, dwarf Altolamprologus compressiceps, Julidochromis transcriptus, Anomalochromis thomasi, Apistogramma borelli and Apistogramma cacatuoides. I cut my well water with RO/Di for South American fishes.

 

[Innesfan]

Right now I just have the smallish Laetacara curviceps. As far as the big ones, I've kept Discus, Angels, Blue Acaras, Ports, Severum, Dempseys. Firemouths and Mesonauta in years past. Speaking of which...

If you get a mesonauta go with egregius instead of festivum you will thank me later.

I haven't kept Mesonauta since they blew up the genus so I do not know one of the newly created species from the other. Is M. egregius the most colorful or is your preference based on behavior? Wetspot has M. acora listed this week and already had M. mirificus on the list.

 

[Back in the fold]

Wow ! The cichlid keepers here are maintaining some interesting species . I’ve always tended to South and Central Americans but have kept brichardi’s , I believe they are known as Daffodils , from Africa . The transcriptus that @gwand mentioned have always interested me too . Those and something marlieri . I love Convicts but they breed like fruit flies and I can’t bring myself to do them again and it seems cruel when nobody will take their young . Given my space I’m leaning toward Bolivian Rams . There is a 55 gallon in my future and I think they would do well in it and , as is my practice , it would be species only .

 

[gwand]

My a. Borelli and cacatuoides are in species only tanks as pairs. The Neolamprologus multifasciatus, dwarf Altolamprologus compressiceps and Julidochromis transcriptus are together. It is an amazingly peaceful tank even with the Julies breeding. I’m shocked.

 

[anewbie]

Right now I just have the smallish Laetacara curviceps. As far as the big ones, I've kept Discus, Angels, Blue Acaras, Ports, Severum, Dempseys. Firemouths and Mesonauta in years past. Speaking of which...


I haven't kept Mesonauta since they blew up the genus so I do not know one of the newly created species from the other. Is M. egregius the most colorful or is your preference based on behavior? Wetspot has M. acora listed this week and already had M. mirificus on the list.

m. egregius is more colourful but they also form a tighter group. My whatever - i think mirficus or festivium spread out across the 600 and they are rather moody. None of them are colourful per sey but the egregius definitely have a more interesting body pattern and a very slight shim at times with a bit of blue around the eye. They seem less moody and more predictable as a group. Also they stay a bit slimmer and smaller.

 

[Back in the fold]

Something I’m not seeing mentioned here , unless I’ve missed it , is what I think is the nicest looking cichlid , the Firemouth . I’ve kept them twice over the years with no success . What’s their secret ?

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

I've kept and bred a lot of cichlids over the years. Mbuna tanks, Tanganyikan tanks (Julie's, Neolamprologus, Lamprogogus) Tropheus moorii, Opthalmotilapia ventralis. I've kept some CA too, Hypsophrys nicaraguensis, Thorichthys meeki. Herotilapia multispinosa, and convicts of course.

These days I can only have smallish tanks so no big cichlids or species only tanks. I currently have the Laetacara dorsigera which I really really like. There are some other smallish cichlids on my wish list like Dicrossus filamentosus or maculatus, Thorichthys aureum. There is a cichlid I saw in a video the other day and I've never heard if it. It was an Amazonian dwarf cichlid that was bright blue and behaved like a darter or goby sitting on the substrate. I've got to find out what that fish is.

 

[Innesfan]

Something I’m not seeing mentioned here , unless I’ve missed it , is what I think is the nicest looking cichlid , the Firemouth . I’ve kept them twice over the years with no success . What’s their secret ?

I belatedly added them to my list when I remembered having kept them. There are others I'm sure. I read an article about them that proffered that they've been farmed to death and the wild forms are actually better-tempered and sturdier. But good luck finding wild stock these days. As you know, this was another Innes favorite. And deservedly so.

As I edited my post to add them, I noticed something. I used 'common names' for all but one species which is unusual for me. It speaks to how these veterans of the hobby had truly popular, commonly used names that were meaningful and left no doubt about which species they reference. Science has since split some of them up but the names are still relevant and in wide use.

 

[GaryE]

I like dwarf Cichlids. I temporarily have an old pair of Apistogramma agassizii. I have pairs of Paranochromis brevirostris, ornatus and gabonicus. I'm growing out some Chromidotilapia kingsleyae, my one large one (but not yet).
I hope that within the year I can have some Pelvicachromis taeniatus. I'm going fishing for that one. I may also get Pelvicachromis pulcher there.
Longterm, I'd like to be able to keep the ones I have for several generations, and add some Pelvicachromis and maybe Nanochromis. I find small Cichlids endlessly interesting.
They take space though.

I used to keep firemouths, and the secret is simple. You need 4 foot tanks to look at them, and 6 footers for them to thrive. They get large. You also need luck, as some individual firemouths are psychos.

 

[gwand]

I like dwarf Cichlids. I temporarily have an old pair of Apistogramma agassizii. I have pairs of Paranochromis brevirostris, ornatus and gabonicus. I'm growing out some Chromidotilapia kingsleyae, my one large one (but not yet).
I hope that within the year I can have some Pelvicachromis taeniatus. I'm going fishing for that one. I may also get Pelvicachromis pulcher there.
Longterm, I'd like to be able to keep the ones I have for several generations, and add some Pelvicachromis and maybe Nanochromis. I find small Cichlids endlessly interesting.
They take space though.

I used to keep firemouths, and the secret is simple. You need 4 foot tanks to look at them, and 6 footers for them to thrive. They get large. You also need luck, as some individual firemouths are psychos.

Love to see pics of the three Paranochromis species.