The longer I collect, and more and more cichlids I witness in nature, it seems I tend to have to constantly revise my expectations of what a cichlid tank should look like.
In the past, and as a general rule I have considered tetras to be little more dither fish, (because the bulk of my interest and obsession) is in cichlids).
My intention for tetras in the past, has simply been to have as dither fish to keep my prize cichlids tranquil, and as a result they get relegated to that mere secondary role. Although the realities, and the revision of my perception, get atwist when visiting nature, because I see how they play a most integral role and are almost always, the largest piscine component of the natural habitat, and ecosystem, at least here in rivers of the new world.
Being cichlidophiles “I/we(?)” often want to cram our tanks chock full of many species of cichlids (sometimes to our dismay, ending up with less than stellar or edenic results).
But the reality is (at least in nature, in Panama where I live) that muti-species approach, is quite far from the reality.
In the rivers I frequent here in Panama, I often find only 1 species of cichlid (maybe 2, if I’m lucky) in a couple acre stretch of river, and those two species may spend the majority of their time in vastly different habitats within that same body of water.
An example could be Andinoacara coeurleopunctatus (Knee. 1863), and Darienheros calobrensis (Meek and Hildebrand 1913), although both are found in the same stretch of the Mamoni river. Yet I almost always find the Andinoacara in slower moving water, in deep pools, and in sheltered, root crammed banks along the rivers edge. Whereas the Darienheros are most often netted in faster flowing areas, in mid stream (especially the mature adults).
Andinoacara above, Darienheros, below
But beside that cichlid species population and habitat disparity, for each individual cichlid I do catch, there are usually more often hauls of 50 or more tetras.
To me this is telling, and might be a more proper concept to consider in the way we cichlidophiles tend to approach our concept of proper tank stocking.
African Rift Lake cichlids, of course, are a totally different matter altogether, living together in diverse communities in the rift lakes.
Cichlid (Chogorro), in the Rio Utive, Panama
How many cichlids in the video above.
In the past, and as a general rule I have considered tetras to be little more dither fish, (because the bulk of my interest and obsession) is in cichlids).
My intention for tetras in the past, has simply been to have as dither fish to keep my prize cichlids tranquil, and as a result they get relegated to that mere secondary role. Although the realities, and the revision of my perception, get atwist when visiting nature, because I see how they play a most integral role and are almost always, the largest piscine component of the natural habitat, and ecosystem, at least here in rivers of the new world.
Being cichlidophiles “I/we(?)” often want to cram our tanks chock full of many species of cichlids (sometimes to our dismay, ending up with less than stellar or edenic results).
But the reality is (at least in nature, in Panama where I live) that muti-species approach, is quite far from the reality.
In the rivers I frequent here in Panama, I often find only 1 species of cichlid (maybe 2, if I’m lucky) in a couple acre stretch of river, and those two species may spend the majority of their time in vastly different habitats within that same body of water.
An example could be Andinoacara coeurleopunctatus (Knee. 1863), and Darienheros calobrensis (Meek and Hildebrand 1913), although both are found in the same stretch of the Mamoni river. Yet I almost always find the Andinoacara in slower moving water, in deep pools, and in sheltered, root crammed banks along the rivers edge. Whereas the Darienheros are most often netted in faster flowing areas, in mid stream (especially the mature adults).
Andinoacara above, Darienheros, below
But beside that cichlid species population and habitat disparity, for each individual cichlid I do catch, there are usually more often hauls of 50 or more tetras.
To me this is telling, and might be a more proper concept to consider in the way we cichlidophiles tend to approach our concept of proper tank stocking.
African Rift Lake cichlids, of course, are a totally different matter altogether, living together in diverse communities in the rift lakes.
Cichlid (Chogorro), in the Rio Utive, Panama
How many cichlids in the video above.
