Cichlid Locales

[Radio KJ]

Good evening folks. I'm trying to sort out the Cichlids in my store. I've heard that South American and African Cichlids should not be mixed, but with so many different Cichlids from so many places (most of them not labelled) I'm a little overwhelmed right now. I was hoping someone could point me to a quick list of common Cichlids ordered by where they originate. I'll be in the book store tomorrow trying to get a half-decent reference guide, but in the meantime, are there any general tips I should have regarding locations/species?

Sorry if my question is a little vague. It's been 6 o'clock for the last two hours now.

[Dave66]

Good evening folks. I'm trying to sort out the Cichlids in my store. I've heard that South American and African Cichlids should not be mixed, but with so many different Cichlids from so many places (most of them not labelled) I'm a little overwhelmed right now. I was hoping someone could point me to a quick list of common Cichlids ordered by where they originate. I'll be in the book store tomorrow trying to get a half-decent reference guide, but in the meantime, are there any general tips I should have regarding locations/species?

Sorry if my question is a little vague. It's been 6 o'clock for the last two hours now.

They shouldn't be mixed as not only to they need vastly different water conditions, but they don't speak the same 'language' which can lead to all sorts of trouble.
Angelfish, Discus and many, many other Cichlids are from South America, primarily in acidic to neutral waters. The Mbunas, Peacocks, etc. are from the African Rift Lakes. In a smaller scale, kribensis are from soft water habitats in Western Africa, Rams are from the same kind of habitat in South America.
Cichlids of the Americas reach from southern Brazil and the Amazon River system through Central America up to the southern part of Texas. Cichlids of the old world include softer water riverine and lake species to the hard and alkaline conditions of the Rift Lakes. Only one Cichlid species is in India: the Orange Chromide.

Dave

[OscarFan]

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/cich-mal.htm
This has a lot of cichlids. With most of the common names. Just click on the pics to see the lists.


Hope this helps good luck.

[TowBoater]

You have the different lakes in Africa and they shouldn't be mixed. You have the central american and south american cichlids as well and they should not be mixed. There is some cichlids that should only be with their own species.

[Radio KJ]

The link does give me a good starting point. Thanks.

As for differing water conditions, I'm unfortunately limited to at most two different waters, meaning most of the Cichlids have to suffer through the same conditions as each other while they're in the store. The department was built in "walls" rather than as individual tanks, which makes it all very much easier to care for, but a little tricky to get the fish into the proper conditions.

[TowBoater]

The single system is bad. Does it have like a bunch of 30g breeders set-up as display with one filter system? If one gets sick, they all do.

[OscarFan]

glad I could help

[Fishguy2727]

Then keep one system hard and one softer. The store I work at is the same and it is not that bad. I just keep the pH higher in some than others.

And actually disease is not really an issue. Two things have to happen for a fish to get sick. One is the diease has to be present. Secondly the fish needs to be stressed. The stress suppresses the immune system, offering whatever diseases are present a chance. There are MANY times when one fish gets sick, or a whole batch, yet we never have a breakout unless there are other problems going on, like the water is too cool or some other parameter is off. I will walk into stores and buy fish out of a tank that has a number of sick fish as long as the one I am buying looks fine. My orange pike were actually infected with ich when I bought them, and I knew this. I medicated and with high water quality they were fine much quicker the ones at the store where I bought them (within a week). I do not suggest this, but it demonstrates how true this really is, pathogen AND stress.

[Radio KJ]

The tanks themselves are a mix of 10 and 20G linked as four "walls". Each wall has its own filtration system custom built for the huge amount of water going through it. There are also two additional systems for cold water and very large fish (such as adult Oscars), but those are beside the point. We can isolate any tank if need be for hospitalisation, but to have them all isolated would be a lot of money, which in turn means I'd have to raise the price of my fish quite a bit. It may not be optimal for long-term care, but as a store manager I have to balance condition with cost.

That, and it was all built long before I ever got here.

Thus it works best for me and allows the most variety if I can get in groups of Cichlids that take to similar water conditions. Which is the reason for my initial question on which can be kept together.

EDIT: Thanks Fishguy. I didn't expect to be the only store manager here, but it's always nice to have someone else around who knows firsthand the situation faced.