African cichlid with most personality

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The term personality, when used to define the various individual behaviors in fish that are kept in captivity is mostly dependent on the individual fish, and not always species specific. While one can loosely define certain species as owner responsive etc, whether a fish is going to mature and be overly aggressive, or passive, can never be forecast with any real certainty.

An interesting read on this subject.

http://www.onekind.org/be_inspired/animal_sentience/personality/personality_in_fish/


Personally I don't consider a fish that is a glass banger to be any real measure of their true personality, often it's just a case of a pissed off fish that's being kept in a less than ideal environment. If you forced me into a little glass cubicle, I'd bang the glass too.
 
Interesting read, and I agree about the glass banging, especially when not defending fry, random glass banging doesn't seem to be a sign of a good life.
RD. said:
The term personality, when used to define the various individual behaviors in fish that are kept in captivity is mostly dependent on the individual fish, and not always species specific. While one can loosely define certain species as owner responsive etc, whether a fish is going to mature and be overly aggressive, or passive, can never be forecast with any real certainty.

An interesting read on this subject.

http://www.onekind.org/be_inspired/animal_sentience/personality/personality_in_fish/


Personally I don't consider a fish that is a glass banger to be any real measure of their true personality, often it's just a case of a pissed off fish that's being kept in a less than ideal environment. If you forced me into a little glass cubicle, I'd bang the glass too.
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My old champsochromis caeruleus was a true glass banger, I kept him with a bunch of american cichlids and he ran that tank. kept everyone in order and stuffed his face on a regular basis. Can`t get much more personality than Blood parrots in my opinion, they are without a doubt the best.

in my opinion they both offer different styles of fishkeeping. Keeping a community tank of american cichlids with mixed colors can be near impossible when all the fish are adult sized and trying to beat the **** out of eachother on a regular basis. I`ve had a vieja remove an oscars eye and skin the entire left side of the fish and it still luckily survived. Africans allow you to keep a community of colorful fish that all act as a group dynamic, its possible with americans but much harder to achieve.

Africans can still have glass bangers and solo fish, Champsochromis, Frontosa, Tilapia, madagascans, even some hap species.
 
I have a male kenyi & another blue mbuna of milder temperament. obtained at young size for small tank when we were completely ignorant about any africans. soon had to partition them apart for Bluey's survival.
the kenyi is extremely aggressive, and also was to my hand in tank. his tiny scraping teeth removed skin. also is glass banger & the two spar through divider.
As years pass, the kenyi has become most interactive little wet pet in house. he recognizes individuals & expects differently from each according to our habits toward him. especially begs from my husband & hangs at end of tank near him. Total non-stop body wag at seeing husband. often taps the glass thermometer against tank to get response if ignored . lifts mouth above water to take pellets from fingers. retreats from & distrusts strangers.
He was so mean I named him Fin Laden. if you search his name and me as the poster on forum, I have talked about him a few times. but he is not so vicious to me as before. has became a very endearing little fish.
His tank partner makes huge water splashes when fed, but in general lacks boldness with us. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with his early beatings by Fin Laden.
Fin Laden always watches outside tank & is ready to interact, even when fully fed. He acts mentally brighter than our other fish.
We have an interactive lone carpintis, sweet but not nearly so sharp.
 
chopsteeks said:
Fin-laden......I like that !!
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yeah, when he wasn't busy terrorizing & attacking everything he'd be in his cave.
now he stays out watching everything unless strangers approach, observing him.
 
For the most part, Malawi (and Victoria) cichlids have a more limited range of behaviors ime, in other words, relatively monotonous behavior in a tank related to food, sex, territory/dominance-- yes, same with most any fish, but for Malawis this translates to more monotonous behavior compared to some other types. Some individuals will vary somewhat, but for most of them their interest in anything outside the tank involves being fed-- glass banging individuals in small cubicles would be because there's nothing else to do and no other fish to interact with. Some predator haps do have more interesting behaviors.

Tanganyikans vary more overall in habits and tank behavior between species ime. Cyphotilapia, which I've kept for years, can vary quite a bit-- they'll vary by individual and they'll also behave differently in different moods; they're a lot more mood driven ime, something you'll see more of in a tank that really suits them. They're also quite curious when they're comfortable and sometimes inventive. In one of the tanks I've kept him in, one of my large Kapampa would capture an air bubble at the surface, swim to the bottom and release it with a tiny audible pop. After watching this a while it seems sometimes just a game and other times something he did when he was hungry and trying to get my attention to feed him. Some of my Kapampa, alpha especially, will slowly cruise the tank eyeballing me in some moods, as though they're studying me.

New worlds kind of speak for themselves, lot of variance in behavior between different types, some species quite personable and/or interested in what's happening outside their tank... beyond just going nuts when they think you're going to feed them.

If it sounds like I'm less fond of Malawis, that's not exactly it. For activity and color in a tank it's hard to beat them for freshwater. Other, slower fish seem boring to some people by comparison.
 
LOL @ Fin Laden


IME Malawis can often vary in 'personality' as much as other fish, and given the correct amount of space, and an ideal aquascape, their behaviour can be just as interesting as any other group of cichlids.

I've kept mixed groups in 6ft tanks, and kept some of the same species on their own, in single species set ups, and IME that alone can completely change what one may experience with any one of the various species found in Lake Malawi. One of my current favourite tank set ups is a group of C. moorii kept as a species only tank. Six males, and 3 females, yet not only does it work with little aggression between the fish, the dynamics of the sex ratio causes some interesting behavioural traits that I hadn't experienced when keeping this species in the past.



I also think that it goes without saying that the larger the cichlid, the larger the brain, which generally equates to fish exhibiting more characteristics that most people would consider personable, or interesting. While even a guppy can learn to discriminate between two and four symbols, they will never be the complex thinker that some of the larger CA's appear to be at times.
 
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