Many years ago (sounds like a fable already) a young boy received a gift of a ten gallon aquarium from his father. He enjoyed the present for several years until cars,jobs,and of course girls pushed fish tanks into the basement. Fast forward twenty years. A slightly overweight balding baby boomer decides to pick the hobbie up where he left off. But this time things got a little out of hand. Eight tanks and several hundred dollars later I find myself completely consumed with raising African Cichlids My purpose on this page will be to invite discussion on African Cichlids and try to develop a network of geographic locations and what types are available. It is sort of a "Fish Finder" operation to aid African Cichlid nuts like myself in finding species that were eluding them. I will begin the list with the offerings in my own area which is the far west suburbs of Chicago
Fish keeping is kind of a cyclical thing with me. For the last part of 1999 I let things tail off until most of my tanks were shut down. I have now developed a scheme to change an entire room of my house into a "fishroom". I have 5 tanks reset up and am also adorning the room with house plants which I will probably promptly kill but intend to give it a try anyway. I have expanded my interests somewhat and have decided to raise different species in different tanks rather than all Aulonacara. My set ups are as follows:
TANK#1: 30gal long. 3 Zebra Danios, 4 Labidachromis "Perlmut", and 3 Auretus. The danios were the kamikaze fish to check the water. After they survived a week I introduced the Africans all of which are juvenile. I realize that the Auretus will grow to be Frankensteins but I have a tank set aside for that occurence. The Perlmuts I purchased at a GCCA auction for a very resonable price. I highly recommend fish clubs and organizations like this for high quality low priced fish. The membership fee is made up in one fish buying excursion. I will incude a link to them shortly. These fish are a bit aggressive and fairly prolific. Mine mated in about two weeks. This time I utilized a tank divider to seperate the female from the rest. So far so good after 1 week. I do not like stripping the females and moving them is also fraught with pitfalls. Saved only one fry from first batch but female is holding again. Plenty of rocks provide cover and the temp is around 76 degrees. This time 4 fry survived but this female is still quite small. I don't get in to chemistry of water too much but the source water I use is about 8.2 so the African feel right at home.
TANK #2: 55gal. This one is kind of a melting pot so far. 3 Texas Cichlids, 2 Convict Cichlids and 3 BumbleBee Cichlids (Psuedotropheus Crabro). I have raised convicts (who hasn't?) but never the Texans. Although I have raised African Zebras before, I have not messed with these guys. Once again they were juveniles from the GCCA. So far everyone is getting along but no one has gained the size advantage....yet. Stay tuned for some agrression here.
TANK #3 30gal Long. This one is a breeding colony of Haps (Haplochromis) The bag read "sp Cherry Red" and like a sap I bought them not knowing what they will look like. I have raised burtonis and ahlis and these have the same shy demeanor but so far I have 5 steel gray fish. Not a spot of red anywhere. As of 1/15/2001 the "cherry red" is a misnomer but the largest has developed a greenish blue hue when excited. The other 4 are still gray and smaller so I still cannot determine the sexes. Again from the club and juveniles so time will be needed for maturity.
Note that I purchased 12 fish from the GCCA auction for $14 total. If you have ever priced African Cichlids you will see the savings not to mention an upgrade in quality.
TANKS #4 30 gal long. Have introduced two seperate juvenile groups. 5 Aulonocara Hansbaenschi (Red Shouldered Peacocks) and 5 Haplochromis Nyererei. After about 4 weeks the largest hap is holding her first clutch of fry. The Peacocks have the traditional blue bodies with an orange coloration behind the head. The haps I have only seen pictures of but the males are a brilliant red on top. At any rate I purchased these at the GCCA also as F1 generation fish. Again around $3 per fish and I haven't seen these varieties in local stores. Also got a line on some breeders in Loves Park Ill and McHenry Illinois. If you are interested in this, please E-mail me and I will fill you in. All the new fish are seeking territories and I believe that the males and females shuld be showing their colors (or not) shortly. The largest hap "Cherry Red" appears to be female since a couple of juveniles seem to be "courting her but unfortunately are not even 1/2 her size.
TANK #5 40 gal High. I don't like the high tanks either but I got it cheap and it doesn't leak. Our intrepid kamikaze paradise fish have taken up residence in this one to test the water. Good luck to them. They once again survived and I have moved the Texas Cichlid pair into it. Lots of dancing and breeding behavior but no sign of digging pits which is the norm for these. Again I think they may still be too young
TANK #7 30gal High (Another bargain) Just filled today and will begin to cycle (11/1/2000). The intrepid paradise fish proved their worth and this has now become a fry tank. As of 1/1/2000 I have just set up a smaller (20g) bare bottom tank to house the fry. It will be easier to keep track of the and easier to feed.
KURT BONNET Great website. Check it out!
Southern Minnesota - D. Riesbel See link photo page
Assorted Peacocks. Check current species
Michigan
ANCHOR BAY AQUARIUM
New Baltimore MI
I will try my best to come up with the proper names both scientific and common but this usually results in a great deal of discussion and disagreement. As soon as possible I will begin scanning in photos. They are worth a thousand words.
Fishlinks:
Breeding and info
FAQ's for BeginnersCichlid Room MagazineAQUALINKMore LinksFrom Belgium
Fish names Common and scientific
Maps,Pictures, and Info
Mark's Fishpage from Britain
