Aquarium fish: The Cichlid
Posted on Jul 02, 2010 under Aquariums | No Comment
The African cichlid is really a fish, which is really a part of rather big loved ones of tropical fish known as Cichlidae, which loved ones is further divided into two large groups – the New Globe cichlid group and the African cichlid group.
The African cichlid species are also quite diverse and more than 1500 in number; unfortunately, whenever you go to a fish shop, you will almost never see the fish correctly labeled and you will need to figure out the genus on your own so that you can adopt the correct diet. According to their eating habits the fish of this family are vegetarian, predators or both – in general the smaller African cichlid species aren’t meat eaters; it should be noted that while some of these fish seek meals at the bottom of the aquarium, others will try to eat just about anything that floats.
The African cichlid species live in groups in the wild and in the aquarium alike; they’re really territorial and can be very aggressive and when mixed with other fish, they will quite often attack them, but they fight every other as nicely. You will find different views on how you are able to tone down the aggression inside your water tank and occasionally these views are contradictory – while some people believe that overcrowding the tank helps, other people think that bigger aquarium with a lot more rocks and plants is a much much better environment.
Some species of African cichlid are mouth brooders; these are the species that originate from three big African lakes – lake Malawi, lake Victoria and lake Tanganyika. The brooders are also divided into two groups: Ovophile and Larvophile – the Ovophile deposit the eggs in pockets, then the female takes them in her mouth, where they are fertilized by the male. The Larvophile males fertilize the eggs while they’re in the pits and after that the female takes the fertilized eggs in her mouth and also the female then holds the eggs from twenty to thirty days and during this incubation time period she doesn’t consume.
Obviously, this is just yet an additional characteristic of the African cichlid species, but this isn’t what makes them so well-liked amongst the fish lovers; they are valued mainly for their unique and beautiful colors and their rather big size – some species can get as long as nine inches. They’re also quite easy to take care of and they breed, feed and grow easily in captivity; feeding them depends on the type of the fish, but the vegetarians respond nicely to readily-made meals or any combination of vegetarian rich meals and greenies like lettuce and spinach. The food ought to be introduced slowly and overfeeding should be avoided; if you wish to make the meals yourself, you are able to discover plenty of African cichlid food recipes about the Internet and also you won’t need to fly towards the other end from the World for unique ingredients – make a blend of frozen peas, lettuce and broccoli for the veggie-lovers and shrimp, krill and blood worms for that protein-hungry and your fish will blossom and prosper.