Whats so special about Cichlids

[the_bandit]

More times than I can count, people have said they kept Cichlids before transfering over to saltwater.
Is there something special about them that everyone likes?
Pretty colors?
Good personalities?

 

[jemshores]

I did exactly the same thing a couple years back! Had a 72 bowfront....there are sooooo many different species, colors, etc. of cichlids available and they make for a very nice tank. I had a rare pair that bred with ?? and they had some strange looking offspring...it is as addicting as salt but without all the headaches and expense! It was always an "active" tank and many people that came to my home believed that it was salt...sometimes i miss it...but have lots of pics to go over

 

[roadie996]

I have both! I love my cichlids! They are very cool fish, and for being freshwater can have some very nice colors. They are extremely hardy, my oldest cichlid (megatron) has gone through at least 10 separate tank moves, and 4 different tank sizes. I recently scored a 2 for $10 deal at a LFS on a pair of females for Megatron. Now he's big pimpin'

They are very easy to breed too, and if you're good at it... you can make a little extra coin on the side selling the babies. Not much, but hey might be a free tank of gas!

 

[bionicarm]

My daughter has had a cichlid tank for years and loves it. Cichlids are some of the more animated fish you can buy. When she got her first one, she put this small cave in the tank and surrounded it with the small pebbles. This cichlid decided to make it his home, and would attack her hand anytime she tried to move or clean the rocks around it. One day, she decided to pile a bunch of pebbles inside the cave. You should have seen how ticked off this guy got. He would grab pebbles in his mouth, and spit them out at the glass of the aquarium. After he clean his little cave out, she'd put more pebbles in before going to bed. She'd wake up the next morning to find pebbles all over the floor.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by The_Bandit
http:///forum/post/3138620
More times than I can count, people have said they kept Cichlids before transfering over to saltwater.
Is there something special about them that everyone likes?
Pretty colors?
Good personalities?

I had kept freshwater fish for over 30 years. The only thing is, the fish are boring...all are mostly silver. Because I really liked the colors in saltwater fish, I was afraid to take the plunge and wanted my comfort zone...I tried cichlids.
For freshwater fish they heave amazing color....but they are so dang mean I was disappointed. Every day had a new death or really damaged fish because they fight so bad. They are the most evil mean fish to each other I ever owned. I hated them.
Finally I got up my nerve after years of reading about it, and went to saltwater…I wish I had done so years ago.

 

[stdreb27]

They are hardy, (for fw) colorful and active, and they live in water, have gills, and like to eat things.
Sadly cichlids are about as good as it gets for fresh water. IT would be like having a damsel tank full of adult washed out damsels.

 

[fishtaco]

I still like cichlids and after I build my 150 gallon tropical stock tank in my greenhouse and get my current fish re-homed I plan on getting one of the blue Jack Dempseys.
Fishtaco

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by stdreb27
http:///forum/post/3138699
They are hardy, (for fw) colorful and active, and they live in water, have gills, and like to eat things.
Sadly cichlids are about as good as it gets for fresh water. IT would be like having a damsel tank full of adult washed out damsels.
+1 now I realize why I hate damsels so much...they do act like cichlids. Little devils....Fishtaco, folks like yourself is why they are not extinct. LOL...Everyone is different and that makes the world go around, there is nothing wrong with you liking them...there are folks who really like damsels too.
Enjoy your tank! Just the way you like it!...

 

[fishtaco]

So funny because I do think my little yellow-tailed damsel is the perfect fish for my 15 gallon nano tank, which is good because as usual, short of pulling everything out of the tank he will be in there for life. I have a pretty wide interest when it comes to this hobby and try not to play favorites between my salt, freshwater tropical and fancy goldfish/koi although my favorite current tank is my freshwater nano set-up with small tetras and live plants, it is super healthy and the plants really grow well under the PC' making except for adding water and tri-monthly filter cleaning also the easiest tank or water feature I have to take care of.
Fishtaco.

 

[rigdon87]

Here are a couple "Special" cichlids.these three flowerhorns are worth $3500+ a piece..

and here is one of mine..

I have seen them go as much as $10,000 for one flowerhorn

 

[mantisman51]

I posted pictures of my Jack Dempseys before, and they are FAR from colorless. They look like fools gold out of the light and sparle green and black in the light. Plus, they get up to 15-18" and they eat shrimp and grasshoppers out of my hand. I actually have "caught" the big male on my index finger several times when feeding them. And they love to move mountains of gravel all the time. Dempseys and Mbunas are super colorful and very entertaining.

 

[ophiura]

When I sold fish we would often recommend cichlids - particularly African cichlids to people who couldn't quite handle the discipline needed for the saltwater tank.
In this area, we have hard water, so tap water is fine for African cichlids. The colors are about as best as it gets for freshwater as is the size. You can use tap water with a once a month water change (or not...it is forgiving). Their behavior is pretty interesting; most will reproduce well in captivity with little effort (which people like).
There was always a contingent that liked Oscar's because they wanted to feed it live fish and thought that was cool. Of all the abused fish in the hobby, the most severe is the Oscar. Often put in tanks way too small, with nasty water, hole in head, fin rot, HLLE...if fed a fish only diet often become too aggressive to trade in, etc.
But most of these are gorgeous fish when properly cared for...
However I have two pet peeves when I see (particularly restaurant) tanks:
- a mix of African and South American cichlids.
- that stupid orange artificial parrot (aka jellybean) cichlid in there.

(sorry to anyone who has them)
Mantisman51 - very nice Jack Dempsey - really a beautiful fish

 

[rigdon87]

+1 mantis ive had numerous jacks in the past and not really cared for em but yours is pretty cool

..have you seen the electric blue jacks?

 

[keri]

I would hardly call these guys "washed out"

cichlids come in SO MANY vivid colours, some are so metallic they look fake, reds, blues, yellows, oranges and greens. I used to keep an 86g African cichlid tank and those guys were Gorgeous, many of them puppy-dog tame to boot!
As for the temperment - it's about finding the right balance, you have to put the right combo of fish with the right amount of caves and territories, it's a little bit to learn but certainly easier than saltwater.
I still want another cichlid tank, I just don't have the space!
Here are some more shining examples, not my pics but yanked off the internet.

 

[mantisman51]

I've never seen that type, but I'm going to look them up now.

 

[rigdon87]

There pretty cool,my buddy has one and its almost like there dipped in metallic paint.very cool

 

[stdreb27]

What SW aquarists consider undesirable. Is still better looking than most cichlids. Don't get me wrong, it is still a fish I had and loved my convict for years, but sw fish are just sooo much more interesting, beautiful, and don't have to be genetically engineered cou**flower*ff**Horn**cough.

 

[rigdon87]

Originally Posted by stdreb27
http:///forum/post/3140541
but sw fish are just sooo much more interesting, beautiful, and don't have to be genetically engineered cou**flower*ff**Horn**cough.
Cou**o*ora**cough..
One example