What led you to keep rift lake cichlids?

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austinpetemo

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Sep 25, 2007
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Newton Falls, OH
what led you to keeping these amazing fish that we all obsess over?
 

austinpetemo

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Sep 25, 2007
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Newton Falls, OH
for me personally, when i started the hobby, i loved raising oddball species. i kept knives, gobies, and weird stuff. i avoided cichlids because i had heard they had a bad rep. i eventually got a convict and firemouth. didnt like them, they were to agressive so i sold them.

later, i was looking for an oddball to put in my 10g, i was suggested the multi because of its odd behaviors. so i ordered some from arakris. after that i fell in love with the quirky little things. i decided to look into recreateing their natural habitat and there the love of lake tanganyika began!
 

jpappy789

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Feb 18, 2007
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I honestly have no idea why I became so obsessed...I had an odd tank (~25 gal.) a couple summers ago and wanted cichlids. I had always wanted to try malawi's since it was colorful pictures of them that got me interested in fishkeeping in the first place. But my first tank was too small at only 30 gal. so I was advised to just go with a community. When I realized that obviously mbuna would be too cramped in 25 gallons I hopped over to cichlidforum.com and someone suggested Tangs. I had no idea what they were like but luckily a LFS carried multi's and julies. They were so unlike the malawis but I fell in love. I decided to find a larger tank on CL and ended up with a 55...the 25 is still in storage :grinyes:
 

blue2fyre

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Oct 7, 2008
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Well when we got our house I knew I wanted a fish tank. I had only had fish before when I lived with my parents and my dad always kept peaceful community fish and told me to never get cichlids because they would kill everything.

Well I knew that this time I could get whatever fish I wanted, so I looked into fish I had never had before. Community fish were boring so I was drawn to cichlids. I was originally looking into discus but I could not afford them. Soon I took a closer look at malawis and mbuna. After a lot of research of picture hunting I was hooked. I loved the idea of a tank with only rocks and sand and I loved all of the colors. Once I got them and was able to watch them I fell in love with their attitude.
I now also have a Tang tank but I still love my mbuna most of any fish I have ever had.
 

efors

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Jun 17, 2008
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After 42 years having every kind of tropical fishes, including marine fishes, I decided it was time to go for something more challenging. I found that in the Malawi mbuna and I have been in love with them for almost 2 years now. Also, 7 1/2 months ago, I decided to prepare a multies' tank because the idea of a colonial species was fascinating me. Now I have those 2 Rift Lakes tanks and I am delighted with both of them!
 

Pittbull

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Apr 14, 2007
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Me as an avid hobbyist since i was 13 yrs old and now 26 yrs later i think i have done almost about everything native coldwater species, community tropical, goldfish, marine, reef, brackish, south and central cichlids, mbuna and now tanganyika..

Cichlids is where i fell in love with the hobby i started out with South Americans, Central American, Malawi and then Tanganyika..

I have been keeping Tangs for about 5 yrs now and is probably where i will stay I may start a 75gal Central American tank here soon with Firemouths and Cutteri..

Congrats Granpa Efors for being in the hobby as long as you have i am catching up with ya man..
 

Lab_Rat

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Dec 3, 2009
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I started with mbuna as I loved their colors and their social interactions are neat. I've since moved on to other sorts, and since I now love planted tanks it limits the africans I can keep (no mbuna for me anymore).

Right now I've got some peacocks (which are really starting to grow on me), vics, and tangs.
 

myswtsins

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Jun 15, 2008
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Several things (mbunas only)

1. I have semi-hard alkaline water & was looking for fish to match my water instead of trying to match my water to my fish.

2. I love the look of a rocky tank

3. They are colorful & I love the wide bodied look


They were a perfect fit for me! Even though my experience has had plenty of "downs" the ups definitely make up for it!

GREAT topic by the way!
 

efors

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Jun 17, 2008
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San Juan, Puerto Rico
Me as an avid hobbyist since i was 13 yrs old and now 26 yrs later i think i have done almost about everything native coldwater species, community tropical, goldfish, marine, reef, brackish, south and central cichlids, mbuna and now tanganyika..

Congrats Granpa Efors for being in the hobby as long as you have i am catching up with ya man..
Thanks, amigo! Be gran me mucker, because if you catch me up, you will get too old then. And I see you started early in the hobby, almost like me; I got my own first tank when I was 10 yrs old.
This is a great thread, Austin; congrats for it!
 
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