CICHLIDS

Cichlids feature strongly at Wildwoods as we have been specialist dealers for nearly thirty years. The majority of our fishes are captive bred and will acclimatise well to aquarium situations providing the water quality and conditions are correct. As a rough rule of thumb, cichlids can be divided into several main groups, each having different environmental requirements.

 

Rift Valley Cichlids - Lakes Malawi, Tanganyika and Victoria
Temperature: 24 - 26 Degrees C
pH: 7.5 -9.0
Aquarium Size: Minimum 50 litres for smaller Tanganyikan and Victorian fish. Minimum 100 litres for smaller Malawi fish. Larger open water haps and Utaka may require up to 500 litres.

 

West African Cichlids

Temperature: 24 -26 Degrees C

 pH:5.5-7.5                                                                                               

Aquarium Size: Minimum 50 litres for smaller species. Minimum 200 litres for larger species. 

                

                                                                                                                              

Central American Cichlids
Temperature: 24 -26 Degrees C
pH : 6.5 - 8.5
Aquarium Size: Minimum 100 litres for smaller species.Minimum 400 litres for

larger species.

 

 

South American Cichlids

Temperature: 25 - 30 Degrees C

pH: 5.5 -7.5

Aquarium Size: Minimum 50 Litres for dwarf species. Minimum 100 litres for

larger species.

 

Discus Fish

Temperature: 28-34 degrees C

pH: 5.5-7

Aquarium Size: Minimum 100 Litres

 

                                                                                                 
                             

Mixing Cichlids  
Generally speaking, it is not recommended to mix cichlids from different regions. Individual species have different needs in terms of water parameters but they also have differing temperaments, even fishes from the same lake such as Malawi,

cannot necessarily be mixed in the same aquarium; mbuna (rock dwellers) are very territorial and should be kept separately from utaka (open water fish) which can be predatory.

Care should be taken to ensure that individual species’ feeding requirements can be catered for. As an example, many cichlids are largely vegetarian and shouldn’t have high protein diets, whilst some of the Central American cichlids are predatory fish. It would be very difficult to cater for these different fishs’ needs in the same aquarium.

As a general rule, Wildwoods advice is always: Do not mix different types of cichlid together.

For further advice or up-to-date information on our stock, please call one of our experts on 0208 366 0243 or Email us.