If you could keep one cichlid what would you choose and why????

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I have kept many common SA/CA cichlids. Two pairs of dovii, serveral jags and many red devils( labiatum, citrinellum and unidentified midevils), several festae,green terrors, blue acaras, firemouths, JDs, Oscars, synspylums, argenteas, reganis, convicts, temporalis, Geo. surinamensis, A. heckeli, blackbelts, severums, a fair number of pikes, and so many more. I am currently keeping a breeding pair of umbees and they rate right up there with my all time favorites. I have never tried trimacs or motaguense or any of the lesser guapotes for that matter but look forward to trying them in the future. I have also dappled with a group of WC nondescript istlanum juveniles that were mostly interested in eliminatining each other. In my personal opinion, festaes grab the most attention generally from newcomers because of their coloration but as a single specimen they are lacking in personality. If I had to chose a single individual and tank space was not an issue I would choose a male umbriferum. They are big, colorful, flashy and improve with age. All in all however, it really comes down to personal preference.
 
istlanum, grammodes or festae. For me it isnt just about colouration, more for personality and it may seem weird, but i find that body shape is also a factor that i keep in mind when deciding if i 'like or don't like' a cichlid. these three along with a nice jag or GT would have to be my favourite fish in terms of shape, but i have no idea of the personality of istlanum or grammodes. I just think they look cool
 
I'm kinda torn. I have an awesome zonatum pair in a 125 to themselves right now, but honestly? If all I'm going to keep in that tank is a mated pair of something, I'd prefer to have either a festae pair or a trimac pair, to be honest.

-Rich
 
Right now I have 6 juvenile festae, a Salvini breeding pair and a male umbee growout. If I had to choose I'd probably keep the Umbee because I'm enjoying the single wet pet setup... even though he's still super shy there's no drama and no mess... and the tank looks quiet and relaxing.

I was obsessed with Festae but they grow much too slow... it's boring. I've been waiting exactly 5 months and I can't even sex them yet. And the Salvini pair have grown a lot and developed amazing colors but they normally mind their own business and hide all day.
 
Ive takin alot of thought about it too and was thinking of buying a few more timacs or a few more grammodes for a pair and making that my tank
 
a trimac tank looks great, especially a pair, iv never even seen a trimac pair in a tank in person just in pictures and they look tremendous. I will definately be going that route one day
 
I already have a small male maybe i should think twice about going for the ulimate cichlid tank and just go with a trimac pair
 
i would man they look amazing when scaped correctly and not alot of people have a trimac pair when compared to all the festae keepers at the moment. Community's are alot of hard work aswell, you constantly have to tweak things to encourage less aggression and issues (they are very rewarding at the same time though) but iv got a large ca community tank now and although i enjoy it very much i will defo be going back to pairs or singles after this tank runs its course (hopefully 10 years) I find that when you have a single fish or a pair they interact with you alot more than when you have a community and the main interest seems to be between the fish. Good luck in what ever you choose to do
 
I don't much care about rare. I'd probably go with a GT. They've been my favorites forever. Full of personality and beautiful when taken care of. I usually (and currently) do dithers and bottom dwellers in my (solo cichlid) GT tanks.
 
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