Knowledge Base
- Getting Started (5)
- Feeding & Nutrition (18)
- Do-It-Yourself (3)
- Species (30)
Adding Cichlids to a Freshwater Aquarium
Cichlids can die from overcrowding and from being added to an aquarium that has not been cycled. Avoid the common mistakes made by beginners. Novices in the aquarium hobby have a tendency to buy too many fish. With a wide variety of attractive African and Central American Cichlids at the pet store, it’s easy to forget the size of the tank they are going into.
African Butterfly Cichlid Care and Breeding
African Butterfly Cichlids are popular in a freshwater aquarium because they do not uproot plants and can be placed in a tank with a wide variety of passive fish. The scientific name for the African Butterfly Cichlid is Anomalochromis Thomasi and at one time, it was in the same genus as Jewel Cichlids. As more distinct features were discovered, it was given its own genus.
African Lionhead Cichlid Care
The most notable feature of the Lionhead Cichlid is its overly enlarged head, which resembles the head of a lion. The natural habitat of the Lionhead Cichlid is in Pool Malebo and the Zaire River (also known as the Congo River) in Africa. The scientific name for this fish is Steatocranus casuarius. Other common names are African Blockhead, Buffalohead, Humphead or Lumphead.
African River Cichlids
Most of the cichlids sold in the North American fish stores are from the three largest Rift Lakes in Africa: Lake Malawi, Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika. Examples of Rift Lake cichlid species are the Peacock, Rusty, Tropheus Moorii, Labidochromis, Mbuna and Frontosa. There are many more rivers, lakes, streams and ponds outside of the Rift Lakes.
Apistogramma Bitaeniata
This species is found in the wild in the Amazon; Peru and Brazil and was first found in 1961. I purchased about a dozen very young individuals of Apistogramma bitaeniata in the summer of 1994. I set the pair up in a 10-gallon tank containing pure R.O. (Reverse Osmosis) water, with a half inch layer of fine sand, a plastic plant, and a two-inch flower pot.
Apistogramma Cacatuoides
This species was discovered in 1950 between the 69th and 71st parallels W. in the Amazon basin. H. Meinken mistakenly identified the as A. borelli in 1961 (REGAN, 1906) and they were sold to hobbyists under this name. I purchased about a dozen young individuals of Apistogramma cacatuoides in the summer of 1994. They were just so beautiful! I think the A. cacatuoides is actually the fish that got me interested in dwarf cichlids. I was so impressed with their striking coloration.
Are Most Fish Omnivorous?
Are Most Fish Omnivorous? is part of the “Basic Fish Nutrition” article published by Pablo Tepoo.
To the saltwater fish aquarist, Atlantic Blue Tangs (Acanturus coeruleus) are considered to be primarily herbivorous. Although they are indeed browsers, with lips and dentition designed for snipping off the tips and branches of algae, through feed trial studies we [...]
Astatotilapia Calliptera
Possibly found in 1985, in Africa: Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, in lakes Malawi and Chilwa and coastal rivers to
the Samer, Busi, and the lower Sabi-Lundi rivers as well as the lower Zambezi and Pungwe systems. My fiancé, Darren, and I went to visit a house of a member of the PCCA, Pacific Coast Cichlid Association, in 1996, who had been keeping these fish with his Synodontis multipunctatus for reproducing the Synodontis.
Aulonocara Stuartgranti Maulana
Aulonocara stuartgranti Maulana is a beautiful peacock with a blue body and a band of yellow that runs behind the head and into the pectoral fins. There is also some yellow mixed into the tail as well. The dorsal, anal, and pectoral fins all have a white edge to them.
Beginners Guide to African Cichlids
African cichlids are well known among aquarists for their aggression and territorial behavior and hence, they can be difficult to care for when not handled properly. If you are going to keep them with other community fishes or cichlids, you need to pay extra attention to the issue of water requirement and compatibilities with other cichlid species.
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