Many folks get into the hobby starting out with guppies, goldfish and the like and progress to different fishkeeping niches. Some eventually end up with saltwater reef setups, which has actually caught my eye of late. Some stop at something like big CA cichlids, which is where I'm currently at. What keeps you here with the CAs? Though a saltwater project sounds interesting to me right now, it's hard for me to give up some of these bigs guys I've raised for years. So I probably won't. What is it about the big cichlids from Central and South America that makes you stay with them. For me it is the personality of each individual fish. Each one of my guys is like a dog. They sure ain't got the eye-popping beauty of the saltwater fish, but they seem to make up for it in personality. What say you?
So why keep big CA/SA cichlids anyway?
- Thread starter darthodo
- Start date
i totally agree with personality and beauty of the fish.. i also like how theyre territorial and aggressive
Personality and the looks. It's tough to beat a quality gt for looks, even with saltwater. I've kept it all over the years and have came back to the fishes that really started it all for me, oscars and gts and the like.
For me, its their personality. I like about anything thats predatory and/or aggressive. And I guess my male umbee doesnt look to shabby either...
Ive thought of starting a saltwater setup, but it would be a predatory FOWLR setup. Maybe someday.
Ive thought of starting a saltwater setup, but it would be a predatory FOWLR setup. Maybe someday.
Personality of fish...
"Intelligence" of fish...
Owner Interaction of fish...
These are the three biggest reasons why I stick with SA/CA Cichlids...
I've kept a few small salt tanks and although they are neat and the fish are pretty... I found it wasn't worth removing the time/space/money from my SA/CA Cichlids to maintain them...
I have close friends I visit with often who keep fancy reef set ups... I found with the same amount of time/resources I can maintain many tanks compared to their one tank...
"Intelligence" of fish...
Owner Interaction of fish...
These are the three biggest reasons why I stick with SA/CA Cichlids...
I've kept a few small salt tanks and although they are neat and the fish are pretty... I found it wasn't worth removing the time/space/money from my SA/CA Cichlids to maintain them...
I have close friends I visit with often who keep fancy reef set ups... I found with the same amount of time/resources I can maintain many tanks compared to their one tank...
nc_nutcase;3395291; said:
pretty much agree with everything in that post . . . the only aquarium I have that isn't CA/SA is my 3G betta tank in my office . . . and believe me, I'd keep a 20G of rams if I thought they'd let me . . .
Personality, owner responsiveness/ interaction and that rugged big beefy granddaddy look they get when they are mature. I like the challenge they give us sometimes because of there aggressive nature. IMO they have just as much beauty as their s/w counterparts, it's just a little more blended around the edges.