my rift lake cichlids

Over the last 15 years I have maintained approximately ten different fishtanks: everything from a cold water tank of native New England fish to a coral reef tank. Currently I have two fishtanks, a 155 gallon rift lake cichlid tank and a 65 gallon coral reef tank.

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.

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.