So why keep big CA/SA cichlids anyway?

[TheOscarGuy]

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?

One of the main reasons why I like to keep CA/SA cichlids, and would likely not keep africans is their interactive nature. They are also large growing, so anytime you see a 12"+ fish interacting with you (or, trying to bite you!), its quite amazing to watch. Interaction with their environment -- they dig, rearrange rocks, driftwood, substrate to their liking, and sometimes use it to their advantage. I think it makes for an interesting tank, rather than having a dumb goldfish, which arguably may often be more beautiful than most CA/SA cichlids.
Their parental instincts -- they care for their young, and defend their brood. The behavior is comparable to some higher animals. Its fascinating to watch a pair raising their fry.
Attitude -- they won't easily back out in a fight, and will try to get to you through a tank!
Some, if not all, are predatory fish, which I think is another reason why I like them.

 

[mr72country]

I think how much it sucks to let salt sit and mix with the water and keeping the levels right before even adding it to your tank is a real factor why most people stick to fresh water, I think the look of the FW compared to SW is subjective but personality between the two can't really be compared. Obviously I'm a big cichlid person 8) but like darthv said, sometimes the personalities aren't so cool

Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[Naldo]

I think a typical story goes something like this.

You get an aquarium and keep goldfish, barbs, guppies, or tetras and eventually think of upgrading. You go into a local fish store and look at the same old things, until you walk by the cichlid section. You peer into a tank full of small severums or oscars, and suddenly they all dart to the front of the glass and stare back you. You put your finger on the glass and they all focus on your finger. You move your finger back and forth and they turn in formation to watch your every move. Now you're hooked! The fish have played and landed you. You take a few home, and amazingly, they aren't dead in six months! These fish actually live long enough to get used to them. So you get a few more, and all hell breaks loose! The red oscar hates the pink oscar, the green terror hates the firemouth, and the convict hates everybody! This is actually a challenge! So you go out and buy another tank so you don't have to give them away. Now it's too late! You're in over your head, you're addicted to cichlids and there is no cure!

Naldo

 

[navygirl76]

like everyone else says-its their beauty and personalities! i have kept africans the last few years and got so frusterated with their high maintenance care and switched back to SA/CA's and looove it!

i just cant pick a favorite.. im really partial to my juvie choc. cichlid-i love how she looks up over the driftwood at feeding time.. she even has her own feeding spot lol..

and i love my vieja argentea... oh and the red oscar..

see? cant just pick one... lol

 

[Ryan_R]

Pretty much what everyone else said. Personality, behavior, intelligence.

Also, the size lets you appreciate their external anatomy soooo much more... it's really neat just to sit there and look. You just can't see this stuff on... say... tetra's.

-Ryan

 

[darthodo]

I've been peeking over the wall into saltwater, mainly fish only setups for now. Fish are knockouts on the eyes. The price is a big turn-off. My wife said, "why don't you set up a saltwater tank with some pretty fish so the whole family can enjoy them". That was the killer statement. They ignore the big, drab odo I have in the sparsely decorated 100 gallon tank. They would probably ignore the saltwater tank after a while too. Honestly, the odo in the 100 gallon tank is not very attractive to look at, but I like the big fins and the mass. He almost jumps out of the tank to feed. Maybe if I changed the background from black to blue? I like the fish, and my set ups have always been about looking at the one fish in the tank. I don't decorate the tanks that well, I don't always clean the algae that well, but I change the water like mad and all my tanks have over 10X turnover/hr of filtration. To me I get a kick out of producing these big puppy dog fish and I keep each male alone in his own tank because I want the fish to interact with me and I don't like fish fighting because I don't like them getting hurt and damaged. I wax and wane on going saltwater. I do 60% waterchanges weekly on the 8 cichlid tanks I keep. If I went to saltwater I'd probably do fish-only at first because the initial set up is less and I like the fish. I saw a 9 inch Queen Angelfish at the lfs recently and it was beautiful! I pretended to feed it and it came up and acted like it wanted to be fed, so I think saltwater fish can be interactive too.

 

[caribemob]

i had saltwater and triggers are as smart as ca/sa, however you need like a 25,000 gal tank to house the real saltwater beast, i would rather have a 8ft tank with a 24'' umbee swarming around

 

[darthodo]

I like triggers. They are supposed to be mean as hell.

 

[driftwood]

like so many have said I like the personality. All of my SA/CA cichlids are very much into me and the surroundings in the fish room and I like that. I swear my Micropthalmus watches TV lol. His tank is right behind me and when I'm watching TV he just stares at the screen and he can do it for hours at a time. I love the way some of them dig too and feeding time is always insane.

 

[greenterra]

I've been peeking over the wall into saltwater, mainly fish only setups for now. Fish are knockouts on the eyes. The price is a big turn-off. My wife said, "why don't you set up a saltwater tank with some pretty fish so the whole family can enjoy them". That was the killer statement. They ignore the big, drab odo I have in the sparsely decorated 100 gallon tank. They would probably ignore the saltwater tank after a while too. Honestly, the odo in the 100 gallon tank is not very attractive to look at, but I like the big fins and the mass. He almost jumps out of the tank to feed. Maybe if I changed the background from black to blue? I like the fish, and my set ups have always been about looking at the one fish in the tank. I don't decorate the tanks that well, I don't always clean the algae that well, but I change the water like mad and all my tanks have over 10X turnover/hr of filtration. To me I get a kick out of producing these big puppy dog fish and I keep each male alone in his own tank because I want the fish to interact with me and I don't like fish fighting because I don't like them getting hurt and damaged. I wax and wane on going saltwater. I do 60% waterchanges weekly on the 8 cichlid tanks I keep. If I went to saltwater I'd probably do fish-only at first because the initial set up is less and I like the fish. I saw a 9 inch Queen Angelfish at the lfs recently and it was beautiful! I pretended to feed it and it came up and acted like it wanted to be fed, so I think saltwater fish can be interactive too.

So true. What ever you decide, do it for you and no one else. I have set up tanks in the past for the family with peaceful type fish of their choice only to watch their interest disappear after a month. Then I was left maintaining the tank on my own for species I didn't really care for.