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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / January 2006[Poll] Most Popular Cichlids?
I just got a good deal on a baby Blue Frontosa (Mpimbwe). His/Her parents were wild, I believe that he/she will be a beauty one day. I plan to get some more as soon as my local fs gets some in--I'd love to breed them. Anyhow, I am new to Cichlids and I was wondering what the most popular and sought after Cichlid was. What are your favorites? Are there any rare or harder to find than others? Thanks, Muuurgh >I just got a good deal on a baby Blue Frontosa (Mpimbwe). His/Her parents >were wild, I believe that he/she will be a beauty one day. I plan to get [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Thanks, > Muuurgh I think the most popular and the most sought after Cichlids are two different questions, myself -- the most popular (by volume of sales, number of dedicated websites, etc.) has got to be the Oscar, but I would think the most sought after species would be something different and a little rare. In my experience, the most sought after species would be the more aggressive cichlids from Nicaragua, either the Dovii (Wolf Cichlid) or the Jaguar. But different circles of aquarists may come up with different lists. Some people will say the true Green Terror from SA -- --Mark Stone >>I just got a good deal on a baby Blue Frontosa (Mpimbwe). His/Her parents >>were wild, I believe that he/she will be a beauty one day. I plan to get [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > or the Jaguar. But different circles of aquarists may come up with > different lists. Some people will say the true Green Terror from SA -- I read up on these online, per your suggestion. Very pretty, the Dovii is quite agressive and HUGE! The Green Terror is beautiful... but even more agressive, no? My first cichlids, were of course, oscars about 15 years ago... I forgot to count them, I still consider myself a cichlid rookie. Anyhow I'm looking forward to more suggestions. -Muuurgh > --Mark Stone > I read up on these online, per your suggestion. Very pretty, the Dovii is > quite agressive and HUGE! The Green Terror is beautiful... but even more [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > -Muuurgh Green Terror is not nearly as aggressive as Dovii. Many of the Nicaraguan Cichlid species are absolutely ferocious, and in a home aquarium are just mean for the sake of being mean.South American species at least use hunger as an excuse for aggressiveness. But these Central American Cichlids, especially Nicaraguan Lake Cichlids, are horrible and need huge aquaria. Examples: Petenia Umbriferum, common name Blue Freckled Monster, max size 24". Will break aquarium glass to get to you or your family dog. Cichlasoma Dovii, the Wolf Cichlid. Max size 30", huge loners that *may* be meaner than B.F. Monsters. Red Devil (or the Red Devil Complex), Cichlasoma Labiatum (and other Scientific names) are large predators. As Juvis and/or in large aquariums (500 gal +) they can be peaceful, but in small aquariums or "at a whim" can become killers. Cichlasoma Managuense, the Jaguar Cichlid, 14", attitude. I think the Jaguar is the prettiest of these killers, but he's not any less mean. The Black Nasty, Cichlasoma Haitiensis, from Haiti, also known as Odo, 14" eating machine. Red Terror, Cichlasoma festae, from Ecuador (not the same as Red Devil), 16" tank destroyer. Female Festaes are more aggressive than males. Cichlasoma Motanguense (used to be C. Nandopsis), "powerfully built" riverine species. Trimac, Cichlasoma Trimaculatum, El Salvador, very mean but probably not as mean as his reputation. At the Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit, they feed their Trimac live mice. Green Guapote, Cichlasoma Beani, on the Pacific slope of Northern Mexico, cannot be kept in aquariums smaller than 600 gal. There's more, too -- smaller species that are more common in aquariums, like the green Texas cichlids and convicts, but nonetheless are very mean predators. In my experience, Cichlid lovers would *love* to have many of these larger species but cannot because of their exhorbitant aquarium requirements. Which is why I say the most popular and the most sought after may be two different questions: I *have* Oscars, but I *want* a Wolf Cichlid! :-) The Frontosa is certainly still one of my favorites. I love the Moori (blue dolphin), Trophious Moori, Electric Yellow, and some of the Lake Victorians. >I just got a good deal on a baby Blue Frontosa (Mpimbwe). His/Her parents >were wild, I believe that he/she will be a beauty one day. I plan to get [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Thanks, > Muuurgh While I would never dream of disagreeing with Mark, I think Oscars are becoming less popular and Mbuna from Lake Malawi are becoming increasing popular. Sold as "Mixed Africans" from all the disreputable fish sellers they can be found almost anywhere you can find Oscars. I see numerous posts across forums asking questions about why their pretty new red fish is killing everything else in their tanks. Far fewer questions about Oscars. As to the most sought after fish, this will greatly depend on what circles you travel in. Dovii and Jaguars, IME are fairly common fish. In most cichlid shops I've been to, you can find these fish. Less popular are geographical variants of many of the Tropheus species, or perhaps strains of Cyphotilapia gibberosa or C. frontosa. Zebra plecos or are hard to breed fish are also highly sought after. I think the most telling answer to "the most sought after" cichlid is price. Tanganyikan featherfins, certain ancistrus, certain apistogrammas I think would all fall into the category of most sought after. Just my two cents. Tim http://www.fishaholics.org Previous posts follow. Hi Tim, long time no "see" -- I think a lot of the popularity question can be regional, too. For example, where you are, Dovii are common -- Where I am they are not available at all, not even by special order, unless you use mail-order or internet. Another thing to consider is the immense size of the family. There's so many Cichlids to choose from, and many of these species are soooo different from each other, and many of these species have very devoted human followings! Whereas I think Oscars are the most popular, I would imagine that those that keep Discus, which is an amazing, beautiful species, would differ with me. They would point out that simply because Discus are not as widely available, they're popularity is not diminished. Those that keep African lake Cichlids would differ in opinion from those that specialized in the Nicaraguan Lake Cichlids -- etc. etc. But, I will be happy to point out that in the two internet forums I frequent: Cichlidfish dot com (where I am an administrator) and at Cichlid-forums (where I post rarely, but look in from time to time) the only Cichlid species to have it's own forum is Oscars, and the Oscar forums are busier than the other Cichlid forums -- -- -- :-) --Mark >>I just got a good deal on a baby Blue Frontosa (Mpimbwe). His/Her parents >>were wild, I believe that he/she will be a beauty one day. I plan to get [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > Tim > http://www.fishaholics.org > Previous posts follow. Cheers Tim, Mark, if a measure of popularity is sales volume, then I did sell a lot of Oscars, but not as many as I sold lake Africans, but - my biggest sellers were Dwarf cichlids, particularly Rams, Kribs, Cacatoides, Agassizii and Keyholes (if the classification of Dwarf could include Keyholes). However I think sales figures are quite variable regionally (ie: local water conditions, availability etc), and sales volumes don't account for the large differences in life expectancy (ie: Oscar to a German Ram). Ask the average non-hobbyist to name a fish they know, and they might mention the Angelfish, so is common knowledge = popularity?  Signaturewww.NetMax.tk > Hi Tim, long time no "see" -- > [quoted text clipped - 50 lines] >> Tim >> http://www.fishaholics.org >> Previous posts follow. > [quoted text clipped - 59 lines] >>> Tim >>> http://www.fishaholics.org Okay, I guess popularity is a misnomer. I guess I am looking for the more "rare" sought after in the sense that they are hard-to-find. Thanks, Muuurgh > Okay, I guess popularity is a misnomer. I guess I am looking for the more > "rare" sought after in the sense that they are hard-to-find. > > Thanks, > Muuurgh Rare may not always be a good thing. Rare when talking about zebra plecos is a breeding issue. These are rare sought after fish. Rare when talking about seeing Boulengerochromis in the hobby stems from tank space issues. Most do not want to keep a 500 gallon tank for one pair of large fish. ;-) Some of the rarer sought after fish are those that are hard to keep alive. Xenotilapia species or featherfins from Lake Tanganyika for example are extremely sensitive and are hard to ship from the lake. So, they're rare in the hobby. L. caeruleus "wild caught" are rare because they're solitary in nature and very few are shipped from the lake. But the tank bred strains are available in almost every pet store across the country. I really think it all comes down to what you like. Certainly if you're looking for rare as a means to make money, then the frontosa you've purchased are probably a good start. They're always popular and bring in a pretty penny. Tim http://www.fishaholics.org > Hi Tim, long time no "see" -- I'm still around Mark. Spend most of my time working on the site or persuing other interests. I don't frequent any other sites and the NG's seem to be pretty slow these days. I'll be sure to add a link to your site when I finish the new links engine at fishaholics. Of course I started working on it 8 months ago and haven't done much with it yet. ;-) Feel free to drop by and put an Oscar picture or two in the photo contest. =D Tim http://www.fishaholics.org > I'm still around Mark. Spend most of my time working on the site or > persuing other interests. I don't frequent any other sites and the NG's [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Tim > http://www.fishaholics.org I'd love to send an Oscar picture, but I only have a cell phone camera -- I'm an administrator at Cichlidfish dot com, and in March of last year entered a picture in one of our contests and almost got laughed off of the forum! :-) I'm updating my old Oscar site, too, there's so much information I've missed or not included. For example, there are 4 currently accepted scientific names for Astronotus species in use, and new studies on HITH to include, and we really think we've come up with *the* answer as to why Oscars like to destroy aquarium heaters :-) So much new information on a species that is evolving soooooo slowly -- --Mark > I'd love to send an Oscar picture, but I only have a cell phone > camera -- I'm an administrator at Cichlidfish dot com, and in March [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > --Mark Why DO they destroy heaters?? ;) And MY favorites are Green Terrors and Paratilapia pollini (sp). Cindy > Why DO they destroy heaters?? ;) > > And MY favorites are Green Terrors and Paratilapia pollini (sp). > > Cindy Oscars destroy heaters because they carry a common Cichlid trait to move and re-arrange objects in their aquarium surroundings. You'll see them trying to move big rocks, etc. from time to time. Heaters are just a little more fragile when treated like this. In my observations, they don't recieve any more abuse than any other decoration or piece of equipment -- they just break easier! --Mark (p.s. -- And cost more!) i like red devils myself http://www.cichlidfish.com/portal/forums >i like red devils myself > > -- > Posted via CichlidFish.com > http://www.cichlidfish.com/portal/forums The Shedd aquarium in Chicago has a species tank of Red Devils. Very impressive. Signaturewww.NetMax.tk |
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