Boring

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I have a group of wild caught moba frontosa. Beautiful fish, but skittish and not interactive unless I'm feeding them. I actually had them up for sale, but decided otherwise... the CA/SA tank is upstairs because the fish are so much more interactive and well the $2,000+ of livestock is in a tank in the basement.
 
I have always maintained that the allure of C/A and S/A fish was their personalities. However my friend Tommy recently switched from C/A and S/A cichlids to Africans. I have to say that they do not have the personalities of C/A,S/A cichlids but I do feel the Africans are much prettier. So there is a trade off. However it is not enough for me to change.
 
I had the opposite lol, got bored of my cichlids attacking each other etc; and looming glum in their tanks. I much prefer smaller fish now, that have loads of room to swim.

Saying that, I still always always have a convict cichlid; cause they are super
Ya black convicts are still one of my favorites. Tons of balls for a smaller fish and look awesome. They are underrated.
 
I've kept both. There's no comparison is regards to personality, interaction and uniqueness. New World Cichlids are existentially more advanced in regards to intelligence. One of the biggest mistakes I ever made in the hobby was back in 2012. I went through a weird/impulsive phase where I desperately wanted to set up an African Cichlid tank. I ended up trading in a beautiful F1 A. Xiloaensis from Jeff Rapps, for a handful of Mbuna. Needless to say, I got bored with the African Cichlid tank within 4 weeks. They're mindless little streaks of color that instinctively swim around grazing on algae. Awful
 
Nothing wrong with a proper African breeding species setup, people stuffing as many different species in one tank doesn't do it for me tho.
I've found some species to have great personality like tropheus duboisi and red top zebra... Personally I would love to have room for a nice African setup, I keep some gorgeous 5 star generals with my sa and ca fish in the 300 atm.
If you are say a generic mbuna setup is boring yeah maybe but a tank is what you make it and the mbuna tank at my lfs has loads that hand feed algae cubes and the lady uses this to help catch certain fish by dropping one in a net and they swim in their selves.
Also don't generalise all Africans as boring and mindless, what about butti, one of the most personable fish out there and tilapia Mozambique and nile tilapia are big bruisers who glass bang... Emperor cichlids ect ect...
 
Nothing wrong with a proper African breeding species setup, people stuffing as many different species in one tank doesn't do it for me tho.
I've found some species to have great personality like tropheus duboisi and red top zebra... Personally I would love to have room for a nice African setup, I keep some gorgeous 5 star generals with my sa and ca fish in the 300 atm.
If you are say a generic mbuna setup is boring yeah maybe but a tank is what you make it and the mbuna tank at my lfs has loads that hand feed algae cubes and the lady uses this to help catch certain fish by dropping one in a net and they swim in their selves.
Also don't generalise all Africans as boring and mindless, what about butti, one of the most personable fish out there and tilapia Mozambique and nile tilapia are big bruisers who glass bang... Emperor cichlids ect ect...
Ya I just meant my boring mixed African tank. I did have a buttikoferi. That was one awesome African cichlid. Mean mean mean but awesome.
 
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You guys got me thinking twice about africans. Dang, just can't have such a large tank for Americans, gonna have to choose wisely.
 
You guys got me thinking twice about africans. Dang, just can't have such a large tank for Americans, gonna have to choose wisely.
don't get me wrong Africans are nice and for me easier to maintain. This is just my experience with them. When I went from my first tank a community tank with live plants to African Chichlids I loved it. Fast moving and lots of color. After the Africans I switched to new world cichlids and I was hooked. I had to change back to Africans in my 125g because of lack of time (baby/work). Winter time is my slow time with work and that is when I miss the new world cichlids the most. My son just turned two so in his 55g in his room I'm starting a new batch of new world cichlids :)
 
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