#dwarf cichlid

[jagalart]

the hues of freshwater fish

I've posted these separately a long time ago, but I've never put them here as a set! They were all painted traditionally in gouache - I've got these available as magnets, charms or stickers in my shop! :)

I'm planning some new ones for December~

[subbyp]

love it when someone's nickname for their pet becomes a totally fucking incomprehensible bunch of syllables that has nothing to do with their original name

this post was brought to you by calling my fish Goemon "Blooberino"

[hedge-rambles]

One of the cool things about human brains is that we can practice our responses to things we've never actually experienced.

Children love to play imagination games including dark and dangerous situations because it's how their brains work out a script of what to do if that ever actually happens. Adults like to read and watch and create media about horrible things, things they've never experienced (and hope never to experience) because it lets them play out and consider how they would act in that situation, laying down neural pathways for it ahead of time.

I think people who say "if you write about X happening, or like fiction where X happens, you like X" have it completely backwards tbh. People often like writing/reading/watching things about X happening not because they want it to, but precisely because they don't. Engaging with it in fiction lets their brains go "good job! you're prepared now!".

Every single time I see a take that amounts to "if you write about X happening, or like fiction where X happens, you like X" I'm reminded of this one time I was at a casual friends house as a young kid. We were in her room, pretending to "be orphans" escaping from an evil orphanage and having to take care of each other and fend for ourselves. It was all very Little Orphan Annie/All Dogs Go to Heaven and based on the 80s pop media.

And this girl's mom comes in, hears what we're playing and gets all MAD and UPSET. She says that if we play act something, it's because we want it to happen. So her daughter must WANT HER TO DIE.

First off lady, we were 6 year year olds, so take it down several notches. We barely had a concept of mortality for fucks sake. She made us feel so guilty and ashamed, because she was taking our game personally.

Now I have a 5 year old. And sometimes she looks at me and says "pretend you're dead, and I have to -" Whatever it is. Some adult task she's assigned herself.

And it's just so transparently obvious that she's practicing the idea of having to do things on her own. Which is exactly what 5 year olds are supposed to do. I actually find it very flattering that the only way she can envision me not being available to help her is to be literally deceased. Otherwise, obviously, she wouldn't have to do scary hard things alone.

It's a natural coping mechanism. She's self-soothing about what would happen if I wasn't there by play-acting independence in a perfectly safe environment. She's also practicing skills she needs, and making up excuses for practicing them on her own, without taking on the responsibility of being able to do them by herself all the time yet.

Humans mentally rehearse bad this in their brains all the time. We can do that by ruminating- going over worries over and over again, which tends to lead to anxiety and helplessness and depression. Or we can do it with a sense of play- by recognizing that the fiction is fiction and we can dip our toe into these experiences and expose ourselves to bad things without actually being injured.

My daughter does not want me dead. And I don't want bad things to happen in real life. But fiction and pretend help me face the horrors of the world and think about them without collapsing or messing myself up mentally.

[fishmikey]

red lined dwarf cichlid

[dragonbma]

🐟 Mercraft: Fish Mode! A (mostly) complete guide ^^

New Order of the Stone: (all are species found in Minecraft)

Jesse- cod

Lukas- dolphin

Petra- sockeye salmon

Axel- sea turtle

Olivia- squid

Reuben- sea pigckle /j clownfish

Dewey- pufferfish

Blaze Rods:

Aiden- jaguar cichlid

Gill- he’s the only human /j snakehead probably

Maya- rainbow smelt

Old Order of the Stone:

Gabriel- North Atlantic swordfish

Ellegaard- Argentine shortfin squid

Magnus- dwarf sawfish

Soren- common cuttlefish

Ivor- blue-ringed octopus

Witherstorm- giant squid or kraken “Ichorstorm”

Portal Arc:

Isa- rainbow darter

Milo- banana eel

Reginald- fantail darter

Benedict- oyster “Eversoyster”

Harper- East Pacific red octopus

PAMA- arapaima “AraPAMA”

Hadrian- shovelnose sturgeon

Otto- brook trout

Mevia- vampire squid

Cassie- brindled madtom

Nell- mahi-mahi

Em- bull shark

“Tim”- great white

Champion City:

Radar- logperch

Stella- emperor angelfish

Lluna- narwhal

Sea Temple:

Jack- lemon shark

Vos- oarfish

Sammy- flying fish

Nurm- mirror carp

Prismarine Colossus- coelacanth

Elder Guardians- sacabambapsis

Sunshine Institute + Underneath:

Warden- lamprey

Oxblood- goliath tigerfish

Carmine- goblin shark

Binta- whale shark

Admins:

Romeo- lionfish (+crab armor)

Fred- blue jellyfish (+clam armor)

Xara- pelagic stingray (+starfish armor)

“Vos”- anglerfish

Snowmeo- crocodile icefish

I know there are characters I missed; if you want to ask about someone, please do! I’d be happy to assign them a fish! Also if you want to know the reasoning behind any of these choices, I’m happy to answer! I will discuss fish choices ALL DAY. (Ex. Most engineers or scientists were assigned species of octopus/squid because having more arms is useful.) :]

The Mercraft: Fish Mode tag just started out as the MC:SM equivalent of Mermay for me but y’all are free to use it even if you have differing fish ideas for the characters! Bonus: Aiden and Radar’s concepts can be found here!

[dark-overlord-of-rainbows]

Drawn Nov 4 - 11 2024 My part of an idol trio with ARaccoonNamedPeacock and N8-0. The red-haired character is Kira and the blue haired one is Yukio.

I uh. really read peacock's description that read "pop group" and "girls preferred" and went "counterpoint! goth enby," huh? okok I'm joking-- they weren't requirements, and I did consider both people's designs and the rest of the description when doing my own and doing research.

So this character doesn't have a name, I haven't actually picked a gender either, but they're a panda dwarf cichlid - since I decided to go for a yellow character to fit with the others and that fish is yellow but also sometimes has red and blue which fit with the other colours.

It's not super obvious with the outfit but I did try to give this character scoliosis and the darker brown on their cheeks is melasma.

There's obviously alt influences in this character, but I was also looking at Ouji Kei specifically. I used this person's wardrobe for a lot of the reference

The colours of the top left one were my second pass I think? the first I don't have anymore but it doesn't matter they were very obviously not meant to be a final

The ones on the middle and top right are my third which I just edited today. brought some more focus on the yellow and attempted to bring the colours from the other characters into it but eh. The red is from Kira but all of Yukio's blues were too bright

The top right I simplified the design a tiny bit, since I wanted to do "maybe a little overdesigned" with mine: but also for ease of drawing and the fact that they're with two other characters they need a simpler version

I also was attempting peacock's style with that one because when designing this one I wanted it to still be different from my other characters and be interesting for myself, but also make sure that it kinda fit her style without changing too much? N8-0 will have to figure it out himself if he wants to draw them though, sorry lol

The bottom one I drew the three together for one last seeing if they fit together and making adjustments to my colours, as well as simplifying the design further/differently

I do like the extra colours but I felt like mine stood out a lot and in the middle of figuring out how simplified I wanted it I realized that the fact that this one's "the yellow one" wasn't as clear so I ended up just making them mostly yellow. It's fine anyway, Kira was the first character here so she can look more of a main character. I kept that little bit of red from kira though and ended up being able to take one of Yukio's blues for the eye there

I might change the skintone back to being a little redder and differentiate the yellows more again though, I think that's a little weird but I don't wanna look at this anymore. They've got multiple options now

[endangered-aquarium-fish]

the list!!!

every creature that's endangered or critically endangered or extinct in the wild that you can keep and breed in your own (freshwater) aquarium to stop it from dying out completely.

ive been working on this for a while and its still very not done bc oh my god theres so many-

some of these are super duper rare and expensive but others are widely beloved fish, some of them are rlly surprising to see here

pls lmk if theres anything i should add that i havent yet :3 theres a lot of undescribed species that you dont find in databases and stuff so i need all the obsessed nerds i can find to finish this!!!

not bolded = endangered

bolded = critically endangered

red = extinct in the wild (THESE LITERALLY ONLY EXIST WHERE WE KEEP THEM 0.0)

okay here it is :3

Allodontichthys polylepis - Finescale splitfin

Allotoca catarinae - Catarina allotoca

Allotoca dugesii - Bumblebee goodeid, Opal allotoca

Allotoca goslinei - Banded allotoca

Allotoca maculata - Blackspot goodeid, Blackspot allotoca

Allotoca meeki - Zirahuen allotoca

Allotoca zacapuensis - Zacapu allotoca

Amatitlania kanna - Panama convict cichlid

Amatitlania myrnae - Topaz cichlid

Ambystoma mexicanum - Axolotl

Ameca splendens - Butterfly goodeid

Amphilophus chancho

Amphilophus flaveolus

Amphilophus lyonsi

Amphilophus zaliosus - Arrow cichlid

Apistogramma lineata  

Apistogramma psammophila - two banded dwarf cichlid 

Aponogeton capuronii 

Aponogeton longiplumulosus

Astatotilapia desfontainii

Ataeniobius toweri - Striped goodeid

Aulonocara baenschi - Nkhomo-benga peacock, yellow benga, sunshine peacock

Aulonocara kandeense - Blue orchid peacock

Aulonocara maylandi - Sulfurhead peacock

Bedotia geayi - Madagascar rainbowfish, red-tailed silverside, zona

Bedotia madagascariensis - Madagascar rainbow, Madagascan rainbowfish

Benitochromis conjunctus

Benitochromis finleyi

Benitochromis nigrodorsalis

Benitochromis riomuniensis

Betta albimarginata - Whiteseam fighter

Betta antoni

Betta sp. “api api” - Api api betta

Betta burdigala

Betta channoides - Snakehead betta

Betta chloropharynx - Green throat mouthbrooder

Betta compuncta

Betta cracens

Betta foerschi

Betta hendra

Betta hipposideros

Betta sp. “jade” - Jade betta

Betta livida

Betta mahachaiensis - Mahachai betta

Betta mandor

Betta miniopinna

Betta omega

Betta pardalotos

Betta patoti - Tiger betta

Betta persephone

Betta pi

Betta rubra - Toba betta

Betta rutilans - Fire betta

Betta schalleri 

Betta simplex - Krabi mouthbrooding betta

Betta smaragdina “guitar”

Betta spilotogena

Betta stiktos 

Betta tussyae - Chukai betta

Betta waseri

Brevibora dorsiocellata - Emerald eye rasbora, eyespot rasbora

Cambarellus patzcuarensis - Mexican dwarf crayfish

Caridina dennerli - Cardinal Sulawesi shrimp

Caridina glaubrechti - Red orchid Sulawesi shrimp, red orchid shrimp

Caridina holthuisi - Six banded Sulawesi shrimp

Caridina loehae - Mini blue bee shrimp, orange delight shrimp

Caridina masapi - Towuti tiger shrimp

Caridina profundicola - Sunstripe shrimp

Caridina spinata - Yellow goldflake shrimp, yellow nose shrimp, yellow cheek shrimp

Caridina spongicola

Caridina striata - Red line shrimp

Caridina tenuirostris 

Caridina tigri - Tigris sulawesi shrimp

Caridina woltereckae - Sulawesi harlequin shrimp

Chapalichthys pardalis - Polkadot splitfin

Characodon audax - Bold characodon

Characodon lateralis - Rainbow goodeid, Rainbow characodon

Chilatherina bleheri - Blehers rainbowfish

Chilatherina sentaniensis - Sentani rainbowfish

Chindongo saulosi

Coelotilapia joka

Coptodon bythobates

Coptodon deckerti

Coptodon gutturosus

Coptodon kottae

Coptodon snyderae

Cyprinodon alvarezi - Potosi pupfish

Crenichthys baileyi - White River springfish

Cribroheros bussingi

Cribroheros rhytisma

Danio/Celestichthys erythromicron - Emerald dwarf rasbora

Devario auropurpureus/Inlecypris auropurpurea - Lake Inle danio

Devario pathirana - Barred danio

Dicrossus gladicauda

Epalzeorhynchos bicolor - Redtail shark/red tailed shark

Etroplus canarensis - Canara pearlspot

Gambusia hurtadoi - Crescent gambusia

Girardinichthys multiradiatus - Dark-edged splitfin

Girardinichthys viviparus - Chapultepec splitfin

Glossolepis dorityi - Doritys rainbowfish, Grime rainbowfish

Glossolepis incisus - Red rainbowfish

Glossolepis maculosus - Spotted rainbowfish

Glossolepis wanamensis - Lake Wanam rainbowfish, emerald rainbowfish, green dragon rainbowfish

Gymnogeophagus caaguazuensis

Halocaridina rubra - ‘Opae‘ula

Haplochromis brownae

Haplochromis ishmaeli

Haplochromis latifasciatus - Zebra obliquidens

Haplochromis perrieri

Hemichromis cerasogaster

Herichthys bartoni - Bartons cichlid

Herichthys labridens - Curve-bar cichlid

Herichthys minckleyi - Minckleys cichlid

Herichthys steindachneri - Steindachners cichlid

Hubbsina turneri - Highland splitfin

Hypancistrus zebra - Zebra pleco

Hyphessobrycon flammeus - Flame tetra 

Kiunga ballochi - Glass blue eye

Konia eisentrauti - Konye

Lamprologus kungweensis - Ocellated shell dweller

Limbochromis robertsi 

Limia islai - Tiger limia

Limia nigrofasciata - Humpbacked limia, Black-barred limia

Limia sulphurophila - Sulphur limia

Lipochromis/Cleptochromis/Haplochromis parvidens

Luciocephalus aura - Peppermint pikehead

Malpulutta kretseri - Ornate paradisefish

Mchenga conophoros

Melanochromis chipokae

Melanochromis lepidiadaptes

Melanotaenia ajamaruensis - Ajamaru rainbowfish, Ajamaru lakes rainbowfish

Melanotaenia boesemani - Boesemani rainbowfish

Melanotaenia bowmani - Bowmans rainbowfish

Melanotaenia fasinensis

Melanotaenia gracilis - Slender rainbowfish

Melanotaenia klasioensis - Klasio Creek rainbowfish, Klasio rainbowfish

Melanotaenia lacustris - Turquoise rainbowfish, Lake Kutubu rainbowfish

Melanotaenia mairasi - Lake Furnusu rainbowfish

Melanotaenia parva - Lake Kurumoi rainbowfish, sunset dwarf rainbowfish

Melanotaenia sp. “Running River” - Running River rainbowfish

Melanotaenia sembrae

Melanotaenia sexlineata - Fly River rainbowfish

Melanotaenia susii - Susi Creek rainbowfish

Melanotaenia utcheensis - Utchee rainbowfish, Utchee Creek rainbowfish

Melanotaenia sp. “Williams Creek” - Malanda gold rainbowfish, Williams Creek rainbowfish

Mesoheros gephyrus

Metriaclima koningsi

Metriaclima usisyae

Microrasbora rubescens - Red dwarf rasbora

Myaka myaka - Myaka

Nandopsis ramsdeni

Nannostomus mortenthaleri - Coral red pencilfish

Nanochromis transvestitus

Neoophorus regalis

Neotoca bilineata - Twoline skiffia

Nyassachromis boadzulu

Oreochromis alcalicus - Soda cichlid, common natron tilapia

Osphronemus laticlavius - Giant red tail gourami

Parananochromis ornatus

Paretroplus dambabe

Paretroplus maculatus - Damba mipentina

Paretroplus menarambo - Pinstripe damba

Paretroplus nourissati

Parosphromenus alfredi 

Parosphromenus anjunganensis

Parosphromenus filamentosus

Parosphromenus gunawani

Parosphromenus harveyi

Parosphromenus linkei

Parosphromenus opallios

Parosphromenus ornaticauda

Parosphromenus pahuensis

Parosphromenus paludicola

Parosphromenus phoenicurus

Parosphromenus quindecim

Parosphromenus rubrimontis

Parosphromenus tweediei

Phallichthys quadripunctatus - Four spotted toothcarp, four spotted merry widow

Placidochromis phenochilus

Poropanchax/Congopanchax myersi - Hummingbird lampeye

Pseudomugil connieae - Popondetta blue eye

Pseudomugil furcatus - Forktail blue eye

Pseudomugil ivantsoffi - Ivantsoffs blue eye

Pseudomugil luminatus - Red neon blue eye

Pseudomugil mellis - Honey blue eye

Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos - Maingano cichlid

Ptychochromis insolitus - Mangarahara cichlid

Ptychochromis oligacanthus

Pungu maclareni - Pungu

Priapella olmecae - Olmec priapella

Quintana atrizona - Barred topminnow

Rocio spinosissima

Sahyadria/Dawkinsonia denisonii - Denison barb, red line torpedo barb, roseline shark

Sarotherodon caroli - Fissi

Sarotherodon knauerae

Sarotherodon linnellii - Blackfin tilapia

Sarotherodon lamprechti

Sarotherodon logbergeri - Keppe, keppi

Sarotherodon steinbachi - Kululu

Scleropages formosus - Asian arowana

Sewellia marmorata

Skiffia francesae - Golden skiffia

Skiffia lermae - Olive skiffia

Skiffia multipunctata - Spotted skiffia

Skiffia sp. “Sayula” - Sayula skiffia

Sphaerichthys vaillanti - Samurai gourami, vaillants chocolate gourami

Stomatepia mariae - Nsess

Stomatepia mongo - Mongo

Stomatepia pindu - Pindu

Tanichthys albiventris 

Tanichthys albonubes - White cloud mountain minnow, white cloud minnow

Tanichthys micagemmae - Vietnamese cardinal minnow, Vietnamese white cloud

Teleogramma brichardi

Tilapia guinasana - Otjikoto tilapia 

Trigonostigma somphongsi

Vieja hartwegi - Tailbar cichlid 

Xenoophorus captivus - Relict splitfin

Xenotoca doadrioi - San Marcos redtail splitfin, San Marcos redtail goodeid

Xenotoca eiseni - Redtail splitfin, Redtail goodeid

Xenotoca lyonsi - Tamazula redtail splitfin

Xenotoca melanosoma - Black splitfin

Xenotoca cf. melanosoma 

Xiphophorus andersi - Spiketail platyfish

Xiphophorus couchianus - Monterrey platyfish

Xiphophorus meyeri - Marbled swordtail

Zoogoneticus tequila - Tequila splitfin

[lowqualityjonathanposts]

Jonathan, if you could be a fish, what fish would you be?

agassiz's dwarf cichlid

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Freshwater Tropical Fish

Nothing beats having a well-planned and well-maintained freshwater community tank, with a lot of different species that live well together. Some fish need to be alone with their own species, but there is an amazing cross-section of suitable fish for a community tank.

Some of my favorites:

Clown Loaches are big hams, and like to be with at least one other loach in a community tank.

And yes, a single betta in a community tank can work great as long as there aren't fin nippers in the tank.

And everyone knows and loves the tetras: neon, cardinal, and glowlights the three main varieties:

And guppies are easy to raise and can get really fancy.

And my personal favorites, the Pearl Gouramis and Dwarf Gouramis, both excellent if you keep them in pairs or fours. The Pearl Gourami is an easy-to-breed bubble-nester, as is the Dwarf.

The Dwarf is less streamlined than the Pearl, and much smaller, about half the size of the Pearl Gourami.

Another community fish that should be kept in small schools like the tetras is the White Cloud Mountain Fish or White Cloud Mountain Minnow, a colorful little fish that likes a community tank.

And I have had varying degrees of success with having a single angelfish in a community tank, but a tank full of nothing but angels is truly awesome as well.

And every community tank needs one of THESE ugly mothers:

A plecostomus will add hours of enjoyment watching it either sit still for days or be suckered onto the glass for awhile. A bottom-feeder and algae-eater is a valuable part of the community.

And in the "does not play well with others" category, we have the rest of the Cichlids, a dizzying array of species that only work well with other cichlids in a "rock tank".

I'd love to have a community tank setup again before I kick off. I can watch fish for hours.

[anonymun-jay]

Whoops! Trap card activated! Now I'm talkin' bout my fish!

Starting with listing all the named ones, their species, and any special conditions/identifiers especially since quite a few were adopted.

(Please note, they are not all in the same tank.)

Commander Peepers - Copper Koi Betta (missing eye)

Caine - Sarasa Goldfish (feeder fish rescue, scar from prior infection on lower jaw)

Pomni - Comet Goldfish (feeder fish rescue)

Mr. Mystery - Black Moor Goldfish (missing eye)

A-Con - Polar Blue Parrot Cichlid (raised from fry)

Cyrano - Gold Mickey Mouse Platy (raised from fry, and VERY in love with A-Con)

Void, Abyss, and Vanta - Black Molly (surrendered pets)

Winifred, Sara, Mary, Billy, and Thackery - Yo-Yo Botia Loaches

Jack Black - Bristlenose Pleco

Benoit Blanc - Albino Bristlenose Pleco

Dr. Screwball Jones - Clown Pleco

Mike Wazowski - Dwarf Gourami (missing eye)

Bill Cipher - Albino Rainbow Shark (missing eye)

Pugsley - Gloshark (abnormal skull shape)

Pantaloons - Red Tail Shark (surrendered pet)

Pongo - Dalmatian Molly (raised from fry)

Skwisgaar - Blonde Delta Guppy

Bluey and Twoey - unknown Guppy species (raised from fry)

The Gorls (6) - Yellow Guppies (raised from fry)

[waterskies]

Hello! I’m new to your account and 1) I absolutely love your tank setups, literal planted tank goals. I was wondering what you’re going to stock your 10 gal with as I’m in the process of redoing mine and am looking at options! Rn I’m probably going to end up with a betta in mine and then hopefully start a 20 long for some other nanos in the future, but I feel like it’s hard to find good options for 10 gallons as most people seem to encourage just putting any fish possible in there, so it’s been a bit tricky for me to find what fish will actually do well lol

Hello and welcome!! Thank you so much for the compliment Anon~❤️! It makes me happy to hear that 😊

10 gals can be a bit tricky to stock it's true. Especially since most fish have to be in groups of 6 or more so you have to decide if you want to stock the bottom or the water column.

I was originally going to stock my tank with around 10 or so chili rasboras and a couple amano shrimp. But I found some other fish I have always wanted and went with 7 Daisy's blue rice fish instead. I'm a sucker for blue lol

Some other options for a 10 gal could be 8 or so Celestial Pearl Danios/Galaxy Rasbora, exclamation point rasbora, dwarf emerald rasbora, or green neon tetra. Maybe a couple of sparkling gourami if it's densely planted. A single Honey Gourami would be nice, too!

If you have a lid, you can try out furcata rainbow fish, spotted blue-eye rainbow fish or any pseudomugil species, clown killifish, or marble hatchetfish, and of course, a single betta could work as well.

For algae eaters, you can try cherry shrimp or a couple of Amano shrimp. Be careful about putting them in with bettas or gourami, though, as sometimes they might be predated on.

I know some people don't like them but snails are friends! They're a good indicator if you're overfeeding or not, and they graze on algae. I personally like Ramshorn snails. They come in different colours and can get to the size of a quarter. Be careful about Apple snails, though, in my experience, they eat plants the very moment there isn't some other readily available food in the aquarium.

There's also dwarf cichlids you can try out, but I have yet to dip my toes into that side of the hobby so I don't know too much about them other than the minimum being a 10 gal for certain species.

For a 20 gal you can try a smaller species of Corydoras, like Pandas, Salt and Pepper, Dwarf, Pygmy, Nanus to name a few.

If you want something odd, then maybe a Dwarf anchor catfish, or a school of 6 or so, kuhli loaches.

Also, a must for a planted 20gal and up would be otocinclus. There's a few different types, like the zebra, but they can be a bit pricy and hard to find.

If you wanted to go unheated, then a little school of 8 or so white cloud mountain minnows could work. They also sell an albino variety, usually called the golden white cloud.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. So I hope that gives you some better ideas stocking wise or leads you to find the perfect fish for your 10 or your future 20long!

[jagalart]

Next one in the series, cockatoo dwarf cichlid!

You can get a magnet with this and the 4 other fish I just painted if you're on any of my print Patreon tiers :)

[caesarsaladinn]

there is a ghost haunting the city, selling a handful of homebred dwarf cichlids to every major aquarium store, and astute shoppers can follow his trail of breadcrumbs across the city if they want to collect all the A. borellii in the region

[vorbisx]

Recent aquarium portraits

Nannacara anomala - Adult male Golden Dwarf Cichlid

Corydoras sterbai

Apistogramma cacatuoides - juvenile female Cockatoo Cichlid

[aquariuminfobureau]

As a child, I grew up encouraged yo take an interest in aquariums, and particularly in tropical fishes. But the vibrant tropical marines, I was told - the fishes from the coral reef - were simply too 'hard' or 'impossible', especially for a child. When I first took a serious interest in cichlids from the Great Lakes in East Africa, I was again told that they were unsuitable for me; that they needed 'special' water. Such advice surely daunts many fishkeepers from trying fish from Lakes Malawi or Tanganyika, though many people have local water supplies that are perfectly suited for their needs - as in a hard and alkaline freshwater. As is preferred, incidentally, by the regular platies and the like; their needs in this regard do not stand apart from those of 'normal' tropical fishes, rather, they are at one end of a pH spectrum.

The native animals in the ecosystems of these ancient lakes - including the snails, crabs, and fishes - have evolved in ways that parallel marine fauna from shallow seas, although their ancestors may in fact be quite different, despite appearances - the phenomenon called convergent evolution. Although cichlids actually are a part of the 'perchlike' radiation, together with the saltwater damselfishes, fairy basslets, gobies, and wrasses, they are a freshwater clade at heart. Even though there are no corals in Lake Tanganyika - very few cnidarians are freshwater - the cichlid colonists there discovered a world of rocky reefs, and thus evolved similar forms and habits, to those of their saltwater kin, however distant is the family relationship.

The cichlids we call julies (Julidochromis sp.) are an iconic component of Tanganyikan fish communities. As a child, I was struck by their colors, and by how they and their relatives, resemble some inshore marine fishes. Specifically, I thought they resembled many wrasses, and years later I learned that the namesake of the julies is in fact a wrasse. As is often the case, English speaking ichthyologists used familiar species from home, as a reference when describing the exotic. It isn't too far off to understand 'Julidochromis', as meaning 'wrasse cichlid'.

The golden or ornate julie, or J. ornatus, is a pretty little cichlid of about 7 and a 1/2 centimeters, or 3 inches long. Although the concept of a 'dwarf cichlid' is employed for other African genera, and for South American counterparts, it isn't usually used for Rift Lake cichlids. Many of them do, however, qualify, because it is purely a size based category, and not a phylogenetic one. The small size of many Rift Lake cichlids, means they are more 'do-able' than many people imagine, although some thought must go into choosing suitable tankmates, and into the design of the aquascape, for reasons of territoriality.

Within Julidochromis sp. a number of morphs exist, and it isn't agreed upon how to classify all of them. It is hard to demarcate taxa, due to complexities of natural selection and gene flow. The archetypal J. ornatus was described from the Mpulungu area and Mbity Rocks; but more broadly the fellow members of the 'ornatus group' are present elsewhere in the lake. These local morphs can be described as either 'ornatoid' or 'transcriptoid', per their similarities to the holotypes (formally described archetypes) of J. ornatus, or the darker 'J. transcriptus'.

Typically cichlid fanciers conserve the gene pools of different, local morphs, by maintaining them as pure. This although such purities don't really exist in Lake Tanganyika, with evident crosses even between related genera. Not surprisingly it is hard to demarcate or define a species, among the wrasse cichlids. All of the 'ornatus group' live in shallow, rocky habitats, where they breed and take cover in the crevices - genuine reef dwellers. Based upon the water parameters recorded at Mpulungu, the pH of their aquarium water ought to be high, 8.5 to 9, and the temperature ought to be 24 to 27 degrees centigrade. Needless to say these cichlids require a decent aquascape built of inert to calcareous rocks.

In the food web of their home, julies are micro carnivores that that feed on the tiny arthropods, that they find on the surfaces of rocks. For this purpose they have u usually fleshy lips by fish standards. In the aquarium they accept dry and defrosted food of appropriate composition Their nature is, of course, somewhat territorial; but they can share an aquarium with other fish, including other cichlids, assuming the spatial needs of all the cohabitants can be accommodated. In the aquarium it is customary to keep this species in pairs, on the grounds that they are territorial.

However the julies are truly social animals, to a degree aquarists rarely appreciate. They are not a gregarious, schooling species, but they live in social groups with identifiable kinship structures. Unlike many other Tanganyikan cichlids, they are not mouthbrooders, and they have retained the substrate spawning habits of their ancestors, using rock crevices for this purpose. Groups of J. ornatus may consist of monogamous breeding couples, with or without associated helpers; but also small numbers of small harems, accompanied by five or six helpers. Thus they are crudely eusocial fishes, like humans and meerkats on land. Though many cichlids consume the fry of other fishes, Julidochromis is not known to do so, and it is very unlikely, considering their benthivorous niche and facial anatomy. They will of course defend their own sites, from perceived threats.

[horsesarecreatures]

@rubashev yeah he actually went to Brazil on a kayaking trip and came back with the green tefes and heckels! Discus were his main passion for a while. He had 33 aquariums in the basement and was running a discus & south american dwarf cichlid side business. I remember him getting frustrated with the belief at the time of discus HAVING to be kept in bare bottom tanks and getting massive daily water changes. He believed constant water changes stressed them out. He also published papers on discus diseases and treatment.

Sadly, between my brother being born and him being promoted, he had to cut back on the number of aquariums he had. A final blow to the business was when our township switched from their own well water to purchasing reservoir water from a nearby town that was much harder. Since at the time discus hadn't been captive bred in Asian countries with hard water for long and really did better with soft water, and even now still need soft water to breed or their eggs will calcify, that was the end of that. He kept a few personal discus and used RO water, but it was expensive and time consuming so the aquarium basement dwindled to an aquarium room.

I miss his discus very much. I have some other discus now that I love as pets, but their quality does not compare.

Some of the wild discus my dad had in the 90s. They were so beautiful.