Disappearance of some “wild type” fishes from the hobby…

[GaryE]

I had many sworded xiphidium platys when I had hardwater for them. I had unsworded swordtail species too. But sworded maculatus? Technically, the hobby believes we have that fish in stores, but we have mutts.

I had a friend who traveled in Mexico before collecting was regulated, and who would bring me mollies almost every trip. She only kept anabantoids, but she knew my curiosity. There were fantastic fish from a variety of species. I think it's an indicator of how the diversity of the fish has been destroyed that most aquarists think swords, platys and mollies are one species each, with maybe sub-species. In reality, they are a very diverse and interesting group of fish.

 

[emeraldking]

But sworded maculatus?

No, I haven't seen any maculatus platies with a sword. Not even in the wild, sworded maculatus platies would occur.

 

[emeraldking]

In reality, they are a very diverse and interesting group of fish.

That's certainly true...
That's also why livebearers fascinate me so much...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

P. nichlosi is a riverine cichlid. It is a lower pH and hardness fish which has little in common with rifties. My well water (pH 7.0, TDS between 83 and 110 ppm) is the opposite of what the African rift lake cichlids need.

I have kept or am keeping a pair of wild discus which were lost due to a heater malfunction, Altum angels, several plecos species from the Xingu, redline barbs sidthimunki and clown loaches, CPDs, similis cory and Montezuma swordtails. I am not certain but I think I can add A. Australe orange with a geographic location and farlowella.

Many of my fish which were not acquired as wilds were bought directly from the person who bred them.

 

[Seisage]

@Seisage You just stepped on the toes of my pet peeve!
African Cichlid does not mean hard water. Three lakes, Victoria, Tanganyika and Malawi, are very hard water. They're huge, but are dots on a continent that huge and diverse. Pseudocrenilabrus like nicholsi bred easily is my soft tap - I bred several relatives out of the Lake Mweru species flock and they did fine in softer water. My Chromidotilapia nana need softer water, as do my Parananochrmomis,and just ordered Guinean Cichlids.

Ethiopian, Malawi, Tanzanian, Kenyan, Ugandan, South African and Rwandan Cichlids are hard water. Central Congo, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, all the way up the coast to Guinea Bissau are soft water fish.

Yeah, I know. I love Central and West African fish, and that hard water thing triggers me...

My bad for making the generalization and assumption! Now, if you're going to go challenging generalizations made about the African cichlids, are there any that are peaceful enough for a community tank?

 

[GaryE]

Yes, but they all defend their nests. Pelvicachromis kribensis (Okay, not kribs. Kribs are P. pulcher - due to a long ago misidentification they became 'kribs'). It's a colourful smaller fish with excellent broodcare. They raised fry who grew to adulthood in a 55 gallon community here. Parananochromis would be good but are almost impossible to get. The other small ones tend to have specific needs. You can keep them in fastwater, rapids edge communities, or blackwater communities, but not in general set ups.