Why african cichlids

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josh7

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Why does everybody like Africans is it just their color or what? They are much more expensive since you have to have so many and also they have no personality.I love south Americans they actually have personality and are just as colorful IMO hardier and cheaper to can someone just explain to me why Africans are so great lol.
 
Their active,colorful,mouth-brooders,and you can hand fed them! They are amazing!!!
 
josh7 said:
Why does everybody like Africans is it just their color or what? They are much more expensive since you have to have so many and also they have no personality.I love south Americans they actually have personality and are just as colorful IMO hardier and cheaper to can someone just explain to me why Africans are so great lol.

Why? No personality? Have you seen some of the members African Cichlid tanks and videos? I have a bunch of videos and pics! There amazing fish and no other fish have the parental instinct. It's actually been documented that there parenting skills are far surpassed. You don't need so many, people choose to overstock sometimes but it's not necessary.

Just as colorful ok maybe... To each there own I guess. I find African cichlids to be like no other. I have convicts and fire mouths and I re homed them all so I could setup my 75 African Cichlid tank.

And I don't think "everybody" likes them. There just a nice fish to keep some can get aggressive others not so much. The mating rituals are amazing if you get the chance to watch.

I've had different kinds of fish from community tropical to convicts am hands down African Cichlids are for me. You should YouTube jewel of the rift and watch the amazing documentary on them.


Here are some more reasons I love my guys :)



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Fishie said:
Their active,colorful,mouth-brooders,and you can hand fed them! They are amazing!!!

This^^^^^

The mouth brooding is just amazing. You should really watch that documentary.
 
Convict that tank is amazing but I still like my new worlds wouldn't trade my con or Oscar for any African lol and I have you ever seen convicts now that's a fish with parenting skill will kill anything that try's to harm its young.
 
josh7 said:
Convict that tank is amazing but I still like my new worlds wouldn't trade my con or Oscar for any African lol and I have you ever seen convicts now that's a fish with parenting skill will kill anything that try's to harm its young.

Yup! I had a tank full of convicts. Not much color and found them to be a bit boring. I re homes them all. Like I said different tastes for people. That's what makes us individuals right? No arguments here. You have your favorites and I... Mine :)
 
ive had alot of different fish, including convicts, jack dempseys, oscars, and africans. the convicts got boring, and the oscars and jack was nice, but you couldn't have any tank mates. i like africans because i can have a tank full of fish, with amazing colors, and behaviors. they also have personality. each of my fish acts differently. for example my yellow lab is a bit timid, but my red zebra comes to the glass when i walk into the room, and will eat out of my hand.
this is just my opinion. they may be a bit expensive, but it pays off in the long run.
 
Yah I mean I'm not judging any one just wondering why Africans are great lol I have a oscar with a convict and featherfin catfish and all as well anyway so I mean you can have tankmates just not as many as with Africans.
 
Personally i like my african cichlids! New world cichlids are cool too and IMO they are both simple to care for. For the most part. And i personally dont have an overstocked tank but who doesnt want a tank FULL of beautiful fish?!
Overstocking south american cichlids can be a lot of work. They get huge!
 
Jacobsal91 said:
Personally i like my african cichlids! New world cichlids are cool too and IMO they are both simple to care for. For the most part. And i personally dont have an overstocked tank but who doesnt want a tank FULL of beautiful fish?!
Overstocking south american cichlids can be a lot of work. They get huge!

That's a bit of a broad generalization. There are a TON of dwarf and small new world species. Not all of them get huge. I can list 30+ new worlds that stay under 6 inches
 
Preference....that's the bottom line. Some people prefer Africans and some people prefer SA.
 
You can have this debate on everything, Coke vs Pepsi or Chevy vs Ford but in the end opinions are like...well you know the rest of the saying. It all comes down to personal preference, and will be impossible to talk someone out of their choice so why bother questioning their decision?
 
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because i would get bored with 1 or 2 large south americans in an entire 75. i like oscars but one fish just wouldnt cut it. so i now have 18 africans and a misplaced jd. was a total accident that i got her but i couldnt just dump her.
 
HUKIT said:
You can have this debate on everything, Coke vs Pepsi or Chevy vs Ford but in the end opinions are like...well you know the rest of the saying. It all comes down to personal preference, and will be impossible to talk someone out of their choice so why bother questioning their decision?

I'm not questioning people I'm just asking why African cichlids?
 
Like pretty much everyone said it comes to preference, I personally have never kept them, nor have the desire to but... They are awesome fish to watch/look at. They are not so much different then their NW counterparts. They both are viscous when it comes to they young, both protect their territory, and both are colorful in their own right.

I think if I were to try a tank of any old world cichlids, it would be a species tank of Fronts. But that requires a very large tank.

Anyways that's jmo ::shrugs:: we all have them.
 
I think if I were to try a tank of any old world cichlids, it would be a species tank of Fronts. But that requires a very large tank.

I LUVINS my frontosas!!! They are the most awesomest fish ever!!
 
Colorful, hardy, active, you can overstock, require smaller tank than Americans, less compatibility issues, have interesting personalities and aggressive enough to keep you busy but manageable.
 
Sa1nt said:
Colorful, hardy, active, you can overstock, require smaller tank than Americans, less compatibility issues, have interesting personalities and aggressive enough to keep you busy but manageable.

There are plenty of cichlids from Lake Malawi that grow to 10-16" , there is also a cichlid from Lake Tanganyika that grows to be 36".

There is also a fair amount of CA/SA cichlids that stay in that 6" and below size range.
 
Convict2161 said:
Why? No personality? Have you seen some of the members African Cichlid tanks and videos? I have a bunch of videos and pics! There amazing fish and no other fish have the parental instinct. It's actually been documented that there parenting skills are far surpassed. You don't need so many, people choose to overstock sometimes but it's not necessary.

Just as colorful ok maybe... To each there own I guess. I find African cichlids to be like no other. I have convicts and fire mouths and I re homed them all so I could setup my 75 African Cichlid tank.

And I don't think "everybody" likes them. There just a nice fish to keep some can get aggressive others not so much. The mating rituals are amazing if you get the chance to watch.

I've had different kinds of fish from community tropical to convicts am hands down African Cichlids are for me. You should YouTube jewel of the rift and watch the amazing documentary on them.

Here are some more reasons I love my guys :)

Noooooooooooooo - I coming from the UK to steal your tank! That's it, one photo to many.
 
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