Right off the bat, I want to clear up some of the misnomers about freshwater African cichlids. For false reasons, its widely believed that all African cichlids vegetarians. Now it is true, there are a lot of herbivores that come from Africa, but by no means are they all herbivores. There are plenty of “hunters”(as we like to call them) from the African Rift Lakes. Here’s are some nice examples of carnivorous African cichlids

 

 

Next, when we refer to cichlids as African, we are primarily referring to cichlids that come from the three major rift lakes in East Africa (Malawi, Tanganyika, Victoria). There are others, but these are the ones most encountered in the aquarium trade.

 

Lastly, there are some significant differences between the rift lakes(ph for example), and this leads many cichlid enthusiasts to design aquariums around species from one particular lake (ie: a lake malawi tank or a lake victoria tank). With certain species, the chemistry differences can do damage, but for the most part, we find that mixing species from the different lakes is completely fine, especially if you are purchasing farm raise specimens. Now there are wild caught species that lets say have “more personality” and are sought after, in which case chemistry is critical. But we’ll leave this discussion for another blog post.

 

Now lets go over some of the things to consider when thinking about getting an African cichlid tank. We’ll break this down into a “pro” and “con” listing about African cichlids:

 

Pro:

Generally hardy fish species

Fish sizes from 1″ to 24″ species, so plenty of tank sizes to choose from.

Brightly colored compared to other freshwater fish

Lots of personality with these guys

Very easy to obtain optimal water chemistry(high ph, high kh)

Upkeep is generally straight forward and easy. We use the KISS approach (keep it simple stu**d). Have a quality filtration system and maintenance can be adequate from once per month to weekly depending on the stocking levels/feeding habits/fish sizes.

Most species can adapt to wide array of water chemistry

Most species will adapt very well to flake/pellet/freeze-dried/frozen foods

Time and money spent on standard monthly upkeep is generally low

Cost of new system is not that expensive for most designs. Especially when compared to saltwater aquariums.

 

Cons:

Certain species can be high maintenance (strict diets or have large aquarium requirements)

Aggression can be a major issue in an improperly sized/aquascaped aquarium.

Herbivores and water chemistry make it almost impossible to keep Africans with lush plant life.

The more colorful species generally make the most space intensive species (bigger aquariums ;p)

Good quality and strong filtration is a must for a well kept African cichlid aquarium. Low flow, low pressure filters will not work well long term.

 

After considering the pros and cons of this style of a system, we like recommend this type of an aquarium for people who want brighter larger fish that are as close to the colors of a saltwater aquarium but on a budget of a freshwater aquarium. You can also make an african cichlid aquarium look like a saltwater system. We’ve set-up countless systems that are designed to look specifically like saltwater aquariums(sand, rock, lighting) but are stocked with Africans. They fool people into thinking its a saltwater tank on a regular basis :D.