Cichlid African: General information

Oct. 1, 2011 - PRLog -- Do you want to fill your fish tank with more colors? Do you want to have a fish that would add more life to your aquarium through colors and interesting fish behaviour?
Then why don’t you buy yourself some cichlids, dude?

Cichlids, pronounced as sick-lids are a large family prized freshwater fish, loved for their beautiful color. They are considered to be the most specialized and most diverse group of fish in the whole world. There are 1300 species of them (maybe even more) with a highly staggering number of size and color combinations. Freshwater angelfish and Oscars are actually members of the cichlid family.

And cichlids that are being displayed in most aquariums today can be classified in two categories --- first is the new world cichlids and then there is the cichlid Africans.
Cichlid Africans are from the three lakes in Africa – Lake Tanginika, Lake Malawi and Lake Victoria. As we all know Lake Malawi is Africa’s third largest lake and also the second largest lake. And no other freshwater fish can outshine cichlid African when it comes to color. Cichlid Africans are so endearing and simply fascinating to the sight. They will even impress you with their intelligence and they are very easy to maintain too. Your aquarium will never be complete unless you put a cichlid African in it.

The only thing your cichlid African needs is hard and alkaline water. The behaviour of these fish is highly remarkable. They are social animals; highly energetic and always appear to be hungry. Now, isn’t that really cute?

Cichlids are often characterized into four groups and each group has unique dietary needs that you must learn to know. There are the carnivore cichlids that prey on other fishes, most especially the fry of other breeds. There are the ones that herbivores and they usually scrape algae from rocks. There are the omnivores that eat both fish and plants and then lastly, there are the micro-predators, they eat invertebrates like plankton and artemia.

Cichlid Africans are also very aggressive and this may be a little bit of a challenge for a cichlid nouveau. But if you research more about this aggressive behaviour, you could turn such daunting behaviour into an advantage. Your cichlid African can be crowded – and when they are kept in a crowded environment, they tend to lose sight of their victims. So yes, a crowded environment can somehow contain an aggressive cichlid African.
Most cichlid Africans are maternal mouthbreeders – it means the moment the male cichlids have fertilized the eggs, the female incubates those eggs inside her mouth between three weeks to one month. And during this period, the female cichlid does not eat. And she will only eat again after yolk sack has disappeared and the fry are already free to swim. Mouthbreeding provides a lot of protection for the eggs and not only that, the mother cichlid will continue to provide protection to the fry during the times when they threatened.

What an interesting creature a cichlid African is indeed!

For more information, visit us at:  http://www.CichlidFish-Center.com/introduction_to_african...