Howdy everyone!
Hope you all are doing well in this beautiful day!
Today I am back with a really cool topic. Well in past few years , the demand of cichlids have raised in huge quantity. Infact Cichlids are now counted as one of the most demanded fish in the aquarium industry.
You might ask why is that? Why cichlids are this much favorite to people!
Well there are quite a few reasons in this case.
So let’s find that together shall we!
African Cichlids are freshwater fish
who are mostly originated from African who are mostly seen in tropical or sub-tropical waters of Africa, central and south America in general and some parts of India and Sri Lanka! This freshwater fish are known for their aggressive coloration.
They have a really cool coloration. Some have one singular basic color and some have too much color in built in there body. And they have some unique varieties in their species. There are Regular African Cichlids, Flowerhorn Cichlids, Discus and Parrot Cichlid and Oscars in this segment which are mostly kept inside aquariums! More or less, every fish has it’s unique quality and capabilities. My most favorite will be the African Cichlids. As they are my favorite , I should have some valid reasons to justify them as my favorties!
Well African Cichlids are community fish
who loves to stay at a community. Basically there are so many variations inside them. There are whole bule ones, whole yellow ones, colorful ones and Jewel Cichlids who usually shape a body color which can often make them seen alike they are wearing Jewelry!
An African Cichlid tank is always preferable
as they usually stay at a community where they have a selected leader who leads their community. Usually they all swim together like a social group but sometimes this fishes can be really aggressive and territorial. Usually African cichlids can live up-to 10 years in captivity where the water quality is pristine. They average length this African cichlid can grow up-to can be defined as 1 inch to 3 feet. This social fish needs a lot of hiding place to survive as they can sometimes turn into really territorial , it is necessary that this Cichlid have their proper place of hiding.
As this fish are carnivorous, they will eat small fishes and processed shrimps and sometimes blood worms in general.
The Flowerhorn Cichlid is a scientifically made fish
made under the scientific supervision of the scientist which is not found in the wild. This fish has such a beautiful color combination which is naturally seen really pretty. They have a hump over their head which eventually grows with their age. Usually the hump hinders their swimming ability as they can’t swim that fast in general.
People knows this fish as the aggressive colorful fish as this fishes are kept separately in a tank.
You can not add more than one Flowwerhorn Cichlid inside your aquarium!
Does that mean that I can keep other fishes in a tank with Flowerhorn and not more than one Flowerhorn in a tank?
Well not like that! You can keep one Flowerhorn in one separate tank completely out of other fishes reach as this fish are really aggressive towards other fishes.
Kind off like the Betta fishes. This colorful species in the stores are mostly found as the males as the males hold the most coloration over their body and their hump grows the biggest.
And when it comes to females.
This fish doesn’t usually have that much of a color though they are beautiful. It’s that males have slightly more color mixture! You need to maintain a slow flow filter for keeping this fish and what you can do else is to not add any decorations inside their tank!
The Oscar Cichlid are another family member
of the Cichlid kingdom which are really aggressive towards themselves. It usually nearly looks as same as the regular aggressive cichlids but what qualities makes them different from regular cichlid is that when they grow, they can grow really big and they have variations like Tiger Oscars and Albino Oscars . Usually this fishes are not community fish and they will fight with each other as they will grow older. If you keep two of them together that’s fine but more than two keeping is risky unless you have a really big tank such as 200 gallon!
Really cool fish to keep and this Oscars are also carnivorous which means that they will eat Shrimps or other small fishes that will fit into their mouth.
And lastly the Parrot fish
is also a scientifically made fish which has mainly orange coloration and sometimes they can be yellow or pink which I have recently seen. This fishes some problems in swallowing their food as they have some teeth situated inside their mouth which can create problems. As this fishes are scientifically made, this fish are not found in the wild and their lifespan is quite low. Besides this fish are really cool looking indeed!