Convict cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata). Image from https://www.gdaquarium.nl/. Looking for a fun, little cichlid that exhibits all of the traits you would expect from a cichlid species? Look no further than the convict.  So named for its black and white color, especially the vertical black stripes, this bi-parental Central American species is full of personality. Aggressive, temperamental, active, prolific, you name it. If any cichlid species characterizes the Cichlidae family of fish, it’s this one.  Officially described way back in 1867, the species has undergone a number of s ..read more

Cover of the March 2024 issue of the Buntbarsche Bulletin. Image from https://www.cichlid.org/. Over the years, I have posted many times about the Buntbarsche Bulletin, the official journal of the American Cichlid Association (ACA). Published several times annually, there are 320 total issues, as of today’s post.  Available both digitally and in print, a subscription to the Bulletin is included in ACA annual membership. However, for only $30, you can purchase EVERY issue to date via a single USB3. The USB drive contains PDF and Flipbook versions of each issue and is fully searchable. I en ..read more

Image from https://vecteezy.com/. Looking for cichlids but your LFS doesn’t have what you want and can’t/won’t get it for you? If this is you, don’t be afraid to order from an online vendor. As with any business, quality, service, and price will vary, so you might reach out to fellow cichlid keepers, who have ordered online, for recommendations before ordering. I am not advocating online ordering over buying from your LFS. In fact, I encourage you to support your LFS when you can.  I recently went through the list of online cichlid retailers I posted in 2020. I updated the list, including ..read more

Holey rock. Photo by the author. Need rocks for your aquarium? You have decided to set up a cichlid tank, maybe your first one or maybe not. You know you want to include some rocks, but you don’t know what kind(s) to use and/or where to get them? There are actually a significant number of options when it comes to choosing rocks for an aquarium.  River rock. Photo by the author. Before you begin your rock pursuit, however, answering the following questions might make the task a bit easier: What size of rock(s) are you looking for? What shape(s) are you interested in? Does the color of the ..read more

Adult Neolamprologus Savoryi. Photo from https://aquarift.fr/. I have posted a few times about alloparental care (also here) including how it relates to Julidochromis dickfeldi.  Simply put, alloparental care is offspring care by non-parents of the offspring, and such care may come from relatives or non-relatives of the parents.  This cooperative breeding behavior is not at all uncommon among highly social species, which includes many cichlids. Even more interesting are the social dynamics at play with regard to the alloparental care, i.e., why do they do it?  There is an intere ..read more

Julidochromis marlieri (bottom), Neolamprologus leleupi (yellow fish just above marlieri), Neolamprologus tretocephalus (on top of cave). Photo by author. How much space do cichlids need? The answer to that question boils down to two factors – the size of the cichlid(s) you want to keep and how many you want sharing the same tank. But before answering the question above, I would start with asking yourself the following: What is your intent with the tank the fish will be in? In other words, are you wanting to breed or do you just want to show them? Do you want multiple cichlid species togethe ..read more

Adult Julidochromis dickfeldi isolated in corner of tank. Photo by the author.  Have a situation like the one pictured above? If you keep nearly any species of cichlid long enough, you’ll eventually experience this. One of my breeding pairs of Julidochromis dickfeldi occupies a 20g long. In addition to the pair, the tank also houses a few dickfeldi juveniles and two additional adult dickfeldi. One of the two other adults is an alloparental care provider, meaning it cares for the offspring of the breeding pair. See my 2017 post on alloparental care for more info on that.  The remainin ..read more

New custom tank without water. Photo by author. In January of this year, I posted about a couple of custom tanks I had made. Those two tanks were part of a larger custom tank order that my friend Ralph Cabage (owner of Aquarium Life Support Systems) and I placed.  The idea originated from my difficulty finding true shell dweller tanks. Most commercial-off-the-shelf tanks from the national brands like Aqueon and Marineland are not designed specifically for these diminutive species, which spend little time up in the water column. What we wanted was a tank with a larger footprint but that wa ..read more

Amazon River basin. Image from Wikipedia.com. Are you interested in the ornamental aquatic fish trade, how aquarium fish are caught in their native waters, and conservation?  Though filmed several years ago, Wild Caught: Aquarium Fish Trade of the Amazon is a wonderful two-part documentary about the Amazon River, conservation, and the fish trade. I highly encourage you to watch the two videos. They shed light on many issues facing the aquarium fish hobby. Clearly, the documentary does not focus specifically on cichlids, but fish from the Cichlidae family are part of the trade. There are n ..read more

Screenshot of the Cichlid Room Companion landing page. Image by author from https://cichlidae.com/. Looking for species profiles? I bet you’ve searched Google many times looking for information about various species. So how do you know which sites are legit? The Cichlid Room Companion (CRC) is the most comprehensive cichlid information site on the Web. I have posted about the CRC before and the plethora of cichlid information available there. I have even conducted an interviewer with its proprietor, Juan Miguel Artigas Azas.  Though there are many websites available with species profile i ..read more