Welcome to
Our Cichlids' Pages






We have currently 20 of them. Two in our 55 gallon tank
( Ug & Pretty ) and the rest are in our 75 gallon tank. We
love all of our Cichlds but I think my favorite is Ug (short
for Ugly)
 
Blue was the first Cichlid that we got.When we brought
him home and put him in our 75
gallon community tank. But he
started chasing all the other
fish. At the time we had a blue
red tailed loach we called
Scaredy Cat. Blue picked him up with his mouth and started
thrashing him back and forth. It was at this time Blue got
banished to the 10 gallon.
 
Then after a few weeks we bought a freshwater puffer
fish and put him in our community tank. We learned, after
we lost the first one, that it actually needed to be in a
brackish water tank. So we got another one and converted
the 10 gallon tank to accommodate the puffer. So blue got
bumped to a five gallon tank. After the puffer craze, and
3 puffers later, when we realize that they were just too
hard to keep. So Blue was able to reclaim the 10 gallon,
where he stayed for a year or more. I was really surprised
that he lived as long as he did since we would just plop him
in tank to tank. I guess he was just to mean to die!
 
It was at this time we set our aquariums up with sand in-
stead of gravel. That is when we learned that Cichlids like
to dig and rearrange their tank. Then one day we noticed
just how pretty Blue had become. So we moved him to the
30 gallon. At which time we started to buy him tank mates.
Thus starting our craze for Cichlids. They now dominate
the 75 gallon and some have claim the 30 gallon too.
 
We read books on Cichlids and search the net. And came
to the conclusion that we would learn from trial & error.
Everything we read contradicted each other. So we could
not determine fact from fiction. So some of what you will
read on our site will be from what we figured out on our
own and others what we have gathered from books & the
net.
 
We found out that our fish prefer to eat 3 or 4 times a
day. When fed they swarm for about 3 minutes then they
kind of lose interest. So we started feeding them in small
amounts several times a day. We found that it helps to
keep the aggression down and the tank clearer.
 
We Found that our fish also prefer sand rather than gravel.
They love to dig and are constantly changing the layout of
their tank. But if you use sand, make sure your rocky caves
can withstand the digging. We used very large flat slates to
build the caves on. Also you may want to reinforce your tank
depending on the rocks you put in it and how many.




Go to the next page and meet our Cichlids.