A Cichlid Primer

Well, it's still fish week, and that means you still get Ian writing the blogs.

You're welcome.

Today's theme is on a fish that we prefer to keep alive and isn't really good eating unless you're an African fishing them, in Africa.

This fish is commonly known as a Cichlid.  It's a popular hobby fish as it's colourful, freshwater and fun to watch (territorial and can be aggressive).  I've been keeping these fish for a few years and find them fun to keep and watch, and not too much work.

There are a few family groups of cichlids.  I keep fish that are originally from Lake Malawi in South Eastern Africa. This is a lake that you should read about.  It's cool.

These are interesting fish because the females take care of their eggs and young in their mouths.  I can always tell when there is a fish holding because their mouths/chins are distended and the fish is breathing heavily.  I can also tell when I feed and there are a few fish that aren't interested in food...  that means they're ready for isolation and eventual delivery.

Here are some samples of the fish I keep.  This isn't all of them because I just have so many of a few of these and a few of that:

Peacock

Yellow Lab

Acei

Red Top Afra

Rusty

Blue Hap

Venustus

Cichlids are a territorial fish and so require quite a bit of space...   I have a 120 gallon aquarium that I keep the big guys in and a variety of smaller ones for the fry and juvenile fish. Come over and check them out!

The big aquarium.