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FerretFanatic's General Cichlid Info reminded me of a question I wanted to ask...what type of fish are usually found in 'mixed American cichlid' tanks...size? temperament?

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Check my latest reply in Ferretfanatic's thread.

Thanks, that was a great post but I'm still confused How do I know what these 'mixed' fish are...maybe they're find temperament/compatability-wise, but is it just a guessing game how large they'll get? 99% of the time I research fish before I purchase, but I'm sure I'm not in the majority. Even compatability can be a questioned...often times in lfs fish are kept together that most of us wouldn't think of keeping together at home.



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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

i think your looking into it a bit to much. with most cichlids its trial and error and some fish just dont like individuals and some hate evry one. thats what i have found in my american comunits its usualy a dominant fish that hates every one followed by the others that have other personal grudges and only chase attack cirtain fish, usually those that pose the greatest threat to there position on the pecking order.

Ok, I think I completely misunderstood your question (and Jimmy did too)

Are you asking what kinds of American cichlids are found in lfs tanks that are labelled "Mixed American Cichlids"? If so that would be impossible to answer without actually seeing the fish in the tank. There is only one lfs in my area that has a tank labelled "Mixed American Cichlids" and it contains convicts, firemouths, jack dempseys and I believe jewels even though jewels are African and not American.

ps. I hope I understood you correctly this time.

Yes, that's more of what I was asking

I was in a chain store recently that had one of these tanks and a man was buying half a dozen of the fish. I asked if he knew what they were. His reply was 'no'; apparently some people are willing to gamble I suppose. He didn't seem concerned but I'd be worried about how large they'd get and potential agression problems.

even though jewels are African and not American

There are a couple stores around here that have jewels in American tanks, I wonder why that seem to be a common thing.

Thanks again.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

There are a couple stores around here that have jewels in American tanks, I wonder why that seem to be a common thing.

Many lfs don't know that Jewels and Kribs are in fact africans. I pointed out to a guy once that Kribs were African and he was amazed because he'd always thought they were American cichlids. Most of the time when people think of "African Cichlids" they think of the cichlids from the rift lakes...Malawi, Tanganyika and Victoria. These lakes are in the Eastern part of Africa. There are also many cichlids (jewels and kribs included) that come from rivers in western africa. These cichlids come from a lower PH much more similar to South Americans. These riverine cichlids are commonly kept with CA/SA cichlids because they come from similar waters as opposed to the hard, alkaline water of the rift lakes.