CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

What do you think is the best looking Cichlid? Of course it's a matter of personal taste, but my vote goes, because of the cool bronze color and the body shape, to the Jaguar. No bright blues or reds, but he is a handsome feller. What do you think?

--Mark:cool:

I kinda rhink the rams are pretty, myself. Or ecen a bright colored rd.

Tough question!!! So many fish! -- Even setting aside all the Africans it's very tough. I agree, the Jags are great, but then you've got the Discus, Synspillum, Chocolate, the Uaru -- I could go on. Perhaps if I could really answer that I might not have so many gallons of water to change...

[quote]Perhaps if I could really answer that I might not have so many gallons of water to change[/quote]

You beat me to it

Mine would have to be the Green Terrors. YES I know these are not the true ones, and explaining it to others is like pulling teeth with NO pain killers....I use Marks post on explaining to ppl..GREAT artical Mark!! But I still like my 3 Year old GT..
I am not on my PC or I would post a pic of him..

My vote is for the....convict!;)

No, but more seriously I think my vote would be for one of these three: German Rams, any kind of Discus,and the mighty Frontosa.

i've never seen them in person but i've heard that the electric blue dempsy's are beautiful

ah ah ah, your all forgetting the most handsome of all the cichlids, a fully grown green severum, in full spawning colours,

all those tiny red marks, the rich browns, the greens... poor mans discus baby, lol

you knows im right lol

Craig (i know im biased... )

Another one to think about is Salvini -- many, many subtle colors. Also, a species called the Nicaraguan Lake Cichlid, or "Green Flash", although not showy, has a really bizarre looking color.

I notice no one has mentioned Oscars yet --

[quote][i]Originally posted by Barb Okla [/i]
[b]....I use Marks post on explaining to ppl..GREAT artical Mark!! [/b][/quote] Thx but most of the info in that artical about GTs is from Stillearnin, from a discussion we had about true vs. fake Green Terrors several months ago. --:cool:

The more I think about it I'm really becoming a fan of some of the Chuco/ and/or Tomocichla group(s)

Central america actually has a lot of nice, brightly colored or uniqely patterned cichlids that are rarely seen in the hobby

**Not my pictures**
Chuco microphthalmus
[img]http://www.raubwelse.de/galerie/cichlidenmittel/images/bild120.jpg[/img]


Tomocichla (Chuco) asfraci
[img]http://www.cichlidnewsmagazine.com/issues/2004jan/images/37f.jpg[/img]

Tomocichla tuba
[img]http://cichlidresearch.com/gifs/contents/tubapair1.jpg[/img]



[quote]I notice no one has mentioned Oscars yet[/quote]
They don't count they're in their own class

Now you're just making trouble. That asfraci looks really nice. Any experience with them?

[quote][i]Originally posted by stilllearnin [/i]
[b]Central america actually has a lot of nice, brightly colored or uniqely patterned cichlids that are rarely seen in the hobby [/b][/quote]Absolutely true. I had never heard of the "Green Flash Cichlid", AKA Nicaraguan Lake Cichlid, until a couple of months ago when a group of them appeared at a "high-end" LFS in my town. Photographs do not do them justice, you have to see them moving through the light -- they actually make you speechless. It's also a challenge to sit and try to count all the subtle colors on a Salvini! Red, blue, turquoise, etc. --

--:cool:

This is a little off the main line, but a couple of months ago I was watching a program on cable showing people filming anacondas in the Pantanal. I'm sure we've all seen similar shows, but when they finally found the "big one" they were hoping for there were some fish in the picture that really startled me. There were a number of bright yellow fish, and some striking green ones as well that I don't believe I've ever seen before. Might have been some sort of cichlid, though I didn't get a close enough look to really tell. I wasn't aware of bright yellow SA's. Anyone happen to catch that, and know about those fish?

Don't think I've seen that show but the Pantanal (Paraguay and Bolivia especially) has alot of fish not seen often in the hobby.
Includeing Astronotus crassipinnis (drool ) , and alot of acaras,dwarfs and picke cichlids.

Theres a few yellow cichlids there so not sure which you saw, but theres a bright yellow acara and bright yellow apistos in that area.



[quote]Now you're just making trouble. That asfraci looks really nice. Any experience with them?[/quote]
Only a few.
They seem mild mannered with unsimilar fish.
But aggressive towards anything with a similar shape or pattern.
I'm expecteing a small group of F1's shortly and maybe a few wilds,so I hope to setup at least a pair in the near future.


[quote] I had never heard of the "Green Flash Cichlid", [/quote]
Thats actually a first for me too. Not the fish but that name.
Nics (what they're called around here) are nice fish though , large adults are real impressive too. They're bred regularly in florida ponds so they shouldn't be to hard to find. Theres a few of us working on getting some more wild collected nics into the hobby right now also :thumbsup:



[quote]colors on a Salvini![/quote] The blue Salvini species/subspecies reciently found is even better (IMO)


A lot of the less common and/or newly discovered Herichthys species have caught my eye lately too!
Like Herichthys sp. "turquoise"
**Picture is Don Dankos, from another site**
[img]http://www.cichlidae.be/H_turquoise1_DD.jpg[/img]
Don brought some of these guys back from a collecting trip a while back so now theres a few around in my area. (a few in my tanks also )


Who says only africans have nice colors