my rift lake cichlids

Between 1985 and 2000 I have maintained approximately ten different fishtanks: everything from a cold water tank of native New England fish to a 65 gallon coral reef tank. Unfortunately I don't have a tank now, mostly due to not having a good place to put one.

Due to the increasing volume of mail I've received about maintaining and breeding rift lake cichlids, I've decided to write down the knowledge I've accumulated trying to keep these beautiful fish. A lot of pet stores sell rift lake cichlids as tropical community fish or to accompany Amazon cichlids, resulting in the perplexing deaths of these fish. Rift lake cichlids need the proper water conditions and proper tankmates to thrive and maintain their brilliant colors.

• The Aquarium Environment
• Behavior
• Breeding
• Species
• Pictures of the fish together
• Pictures of the fish fighting
• Pictures of the fish fighting over the Dragon Rock
• How I take pictures of my fish

Some of these pages contain large numbers of images. I feel that the images are very important in conveying the appearance and behavior of the fish. Some species have a wide color variation between the sexes and depending on the mood of the fish. If you are behind a slow link, I recommend turning off automatic image loading. I have placed a caption by each image describing it so you can select which images you want to see.