American or African - Which is best?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I could never decide, so I have a tank for africans and a tank for CA/SA. A fish store in Wichita has tanks your size, some with africans, some with CA/SA. I tend to gravitate to the CA/SA, but the african tanks are stunning as well.

If you want to have wet pet type of fish, those that will eat out of your hands and "wag" their tails at you, go with CA/SA.

Thinking out load here, what about a tank dedicated to frontosa's? Have you ever seen a tank your size stuffed with a bunch of fronts, absolutely incredible!

So many choices!
 
i would go for american cichlids maybe a tank of smallish ca/sa community were you could have around 20 fish at 6" at the max,fish like firemouths,other thoricthy.sp's, sajicas, honduran redpoints, blue acara etc.type them in google and see what you like or your could with around 6 big cichlids maybe a jaguar, jack dempsey, green terror, red terror(female) and a salvini.
 
id say american because they can have more personality although we have both of the species.
 
You can't go wrong with cichlids.
Malawi Africans:
Mbuna:You can cram alot of fish in a small space infact the more the better
Almost guaranteed breeding
Always active, always out and interacting with each other(sometimes more than you want)
Alot of fun to watch.
Haps/peacocks: Some of the most colorful freshwater fish out there.
Not as active alittle boring ime.
Like poopsmart said they can be pricey, and inter species breeding is so rampant you don't know if you are getting what you are paying for at the chain stores.

I have never kept any from lake Tanganyika.

CA\SA: I agree more personality, You can hand feed and interact more.
They aren't always out and about swimming throughout the tank( differs from fish to fish though) until they are comfortable with the surroundings and you.
They get much bigger

I kind of go back and forth. Right now I'm more into CA\SA w/ cats. I gave away my mbuna, I have a few haps in a mixed tank but I'm looking to get rid of them too.

For awhile I had Mbuna in with juvi CA cichlids. but the mbuna are such agressive feeders (literaly a feeding frenzy) I removed them.

With your size tank I would lean more towards CA\SA but you could pack it full of africans too. Like I said you can't go wrong.
 
Thanks to you all - v. helpful. I have had no feedback yet from the post in the African forum. Maybe I will set this tank up and feature Americans and then I can always have an African set-up if I can find the space in a few years. I will post pics in a few months.

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Hey if u go with the smaller ca/sa cichlid set up as davidefc suggests u could put some africans in as well that way the africans should have a fighting chance with the smaller ca/sa types and u could enjoy both. It can be done i have seen pics right here on mfk just do a search and u will see some nice setups.
 
I'm not keen on mixing the two. I want to take time to create an environment that would bring out the best in the fish - colours / behaviour / breeding etc that would be a representation of them in the wild.
I understand that keeping both would involve one or the other or infact both tolerating parameters that would not be best suited to them.

i.e I dont want to chuck a handful of random fish in there and watch them be unhappy. An unhappy fish is not going to give me pleasure - call me selfish.
 
selfish - no pun intended
 
I never kept africans but my dad used to keep em when i was like 3 ( where i got my love for fish ) he had them in brakish water. I have kept a couple of american cichlids from jack dempsys - flowerhorns. I currently have a flowerhorn aand getting one from a breeder in thailand next week. Flowerhorns have preety colours and are very smart. Mine stares me down and chases my finger. He is always eager to eat and as soon as he sees me go into a cabinet across the room he knows its eating time. which ever species you get i hope you enjoy it/them
 
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