African Vs American Cichlids

[benniebru]

ok i know i made a post about a stocking list of american cichlids for my new 60 gallon tank but as i research it im not sure what to do weather to do african or american cichlids. what does everyone prefer american or african they are both cool fish. god decisions lol its so hard to get the tank goin when u dont know what u want lol

 

[shroob]

Since you asked, I prefer new world cichlids, the colours just don't do it for me with africans, don't know why I just don't take to them.

As for the fish, its up to you, a hard choice I agree, though the final choice will be yours.

 

[randallhart]

I also prefer new worlds. But as shroob stated the choice is yours.

 

[chishnfips]

For me its africans the colours are really bright, purples, yellows, blues, oranges and some of the riverine species are amazing. A well set up mbuna tank almost looks marine.

IMO alot brighter than NW cichlids. Although I do like NW cichlids too but not as much.

 

[darknirvana217]

I've always loved the Central and especially South American cichlids. They just seem to have a more primitive look and have more of a personality. Nothing beats an Oscar.

 

[Waterbox]

It depends on what you are looking for in your fish.

I kept Central and South American Cichlids for a while and their behavior is more interesting to me compared to Africans. If you want to see how fish would live in the wild, American Cichlids are great because they usually don't just come up to the glass all day to beg for food, and the parental care they give to their young is really cool to watch.

African Cichlids are more to look at, they have crazy colors, like chishnfips said, they look like marine fish. If you get Africans you also seem to have more freedom in choosing fish to put in, at least with Mbuna species because over stocking is encouraged. They are fun to look at for their colours and the little fights they get into, but they show now parental care, and I get really annoyed when I just want to watch them swim around and they just kiss the glass for an hour.

 

[firetank]

African everytime - why not try a riverine biotope, not sure of the footprint of a 60g but im fairly sure
you would get maybe 3 pairs of dwarf cichlid in their with enough ground cover to provide territory/ break up sight lines..(5 foot tank yeah??)

A big shoal of yellow tailed congos sure does look nice to me....

with either:

Thomasi;

good ole kribs (or variant - there are lots available..)

or pseudocrenilabrus species??

throw in a synondontis or two, maybe a shoal of glass cats (eutropelius sp) and i think you would have plenty of colour, activity and also diverse
species to keep interest..

its a shame there arent more exports from the african continent as there are a lot more species we miss out on...

if you are in the Uk and its worth checking trimar out as all these species are available mail order from them, ive left off a lot of the more demanding
species (nannochroms etc)....

cheers
Craig

 

[SJ2K]

Not kept africans but intend to in the future, cant say much about new world either but have rams and if the rest are anything to go by, there a little dull as far as activity goes.

 

[caboose_122]

i find new worlds very bland in colour compaired to africans, if you like to watch a extremely active tank then go with africans

 

[shroob]

If you havn't made up your mind, you could try youtubing some of the fish you want, to get an idea of how they act etc.