I was digging through old photos of fish I used to keep (that I wish I still had) and thought I'd start putting some of them up for anyone interested to have a look. I like African Cichlids, but don't have much interest in the hardwater Mbuna everyone calls "Africans". The continent is huge and diverse, and the Cichlid group is like nature held a party and invited everyone to evolve in as many creative ways as they could manage. Today's group are rapids hoppers, fish who can barely swim and stay along the bottom of the chain of incredibly dangerous rapids along the Congo River. They live among the rocks and boulders on the edges of the permanent storm, and any fish that rises in the water column there will be swept away and pulled under into the low oxygen depths. So their swim bladders are reduced, making them awkward swimmers in the home aquarium.
Several species (and not all the species have names yet - they aren't 'money' fish) have huge jaws and crush snails for a living.
Several species (and not all the species have names yet - they aren't 'money' fish) have huge jaws and crush snails for a living.
