any cichlid keepers here?

[Regalblue]

I am keeping Central Americans ( Cubans, P.Friedrichsthalli, P.Motaguensis, Texas & Synspillum) along with some Flowerhorns.
I currently have 490gallons running in 7 tanks.

What do you have?

 

[HarleyK]

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[HarleyK]

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[HarleyK]

Nice!!! I think you will appreciate monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[Tom]

I've got a big empty 135. I just took it down and my wife was so upset that I had to clean it all up and refill it. Its just sitting there running, but with no fish in it... empty... beckoning me.......


It had a bunch of Julidochromis and asst. Lampropeltis, plus some giant danios for dither fish, and a Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps for the clean up crew/algae control.

I love the big South Americans, but they just tear everything up. Seriously debating what to put in there. Wife wants a few shubunkins.

Wait 'til Kristina sees this!

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't have aquariums now, but years ago I had a pair of convicts (are those cichlids?) There was a frog ashtray on the bottom of the tank. It was green with brown spots, had its mouth wide open with a leaf on the edge of the lower lip for you to lay your cigarette down on. Mama convict just loved that frog. She had babies several times, and if they weren't in papa's mouth, they were inside that frog's mouth. It was very entertaining!

Before she was ready to have babies, she spent hours rearranging the gravel in the tank. This was a 100 gallon tank. She moved ALL the gravel from one side of the tank to the other side.

The fish were so entertaining that my husband built me a wooden stool to sit on in front of the aquarium. I spent a lot of time there!

 

[Balboa]

yup convicts are cichlids Yvonne, and fun ones at that.

I'm getting out of the fishies, still have a few south/central americans. Blue Acara/Green Terror (I still haven't decided which it is after all these years), firemouth, a beautiful Spotted Severum, and boatloads of guppies.

 

[Schlomo]

I used to have Oscars, Jack Dempsey, Convicts, Mbuna, Zebra, Firemouth. I loved the Oscars - they seemed very intelligent, and temperamental. I had to move so I had to give them away.

 

[Tom]

Oops. I ment to say Lamprologus, not Lampropeltis. I did NOT have any gray banded kingsnakes in my aquarium with my African Cichlids. Haha.

 

[Regalblue]

Tom, how about some Frontosa?
Yvonne- sounds like me, my wife is always complaining because I'm laying across the foot of the bed, instead of laying in it normal. But, I can see my 95, 90 & 35 gallon tanks better from there.
Balboa- post a picture here of your GT/BA

 

[Tom]

I just got rid of two frontsa when I cleaned out the tank.

I was considering some peacocks and other Haplochromis.

Maybe just a simple Australian Arowana, since the Asians are illegal. I don't know. So many options...

 

[Regalblue]

Tom, how about some Frontosa? Like the Zaire?
Yvonne- sounds like me, my wife is always complaining because I'm laying across the foot of the bed, instead of laying in it normal. But, I can see my 95, 90 & 35 gallon tanks better from there.
Balboa- post a picture here of your GT/BA
Wow Schlomo, I hope that was a big tank.

---

Yeah peacocks are nice. I've spawned Regals, swallowtails, OBs & Ngaras.
With that big of a tank, you have a lot of options going with Haps. P.Spilontus would be a good one, they get on the biggerside too.

 

[DixieParadise]

I used to have Cichlids from South Africa (Malawi). I loved having all of the color in a freshwater tank. You can get some good colors if you plan it right.

I do miss the fish, but not the labor of love that came with cleaning the tank, rocks, etc.

 

[Tom]

EJ, I love you, but Lake Malawi is not in SA...

That's like putting a kingsnake in your aquarium... D'oh!

(Look at post number 6, if you didn't get my joke.)

 

[DixieParadise]

Sorry correction to post..

Lake Malawi, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the Great Rift Valley system of East Africa.

Love you too Tom.. at least I knew they were from Africa..

 

[Regalblue]

Yes Malawis are nice. I started out with them when I first got into breeding fish.
But, its hard to beat a 13" Jaguar cichlid banging on the glass. I had one that everytime I opened the top, to fed him, he would torpedo out straight for my throat. I ended up trading him in, I got sick of putting him back into the tank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mynvmy4Hb_0&feature=youtube_gdata_player
That is a video of me just touching the top, he's about 12" in the video.

 

[DixieParadise]

Yep, I think that would scare the hell out of me, too. Mine didn't get that big, before I traded them away. I do miss them though.

 

[bikerchicspain]

We have cichlids at work,
At the moment we have oscars, parrots, Archocentrus nigrofasciatus,
And a range of cichlasomas,discus, angel fish, we have also got some
tetraodon fluviatilis, not sure whether they are cichlids,

I am not really into fish, I know all the basics and what fish can live together but not much more, my thing is reptiles and rodents ..

 

[dmarcus]

We have 4 Jack Dempsey's, and thats all we can handle right now....

 

[HarleyK]

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