Any "new" cichlid hobbyists' here?

Anyone frequent here that is new to collecting cichlids? Or anyone not
new that just wants to share with us, what they have, etc. Just curious
for conversation, try and pick this NG up to where it once was. What
size tank have you purchased? What types of cichlids are you collecting?
Are you "hooked" yet? Any questions you may have? We're not experts mind
you, but for me, Ive been in and out of the hobby ( in again) for about
16 years. So I may be of help as far as filteration, good keeping, water
changing, and all those type questions. It really is a great hobby,
enjoy it.

"FEAR_THE_ SWAMP" wrote in message
...
Anyone frequent here that is new to collecting cichlids? Or anyone not
new that just wants to share with us, what they have, etc. Just curious
for conversation, try and pick this NG up to where it once was. What
size tank have you purchased? What types of cichlids are you collecting?
Are you "hooked" yet? Any questions you may have? We're not experts mind
you, but for me, Ive been in and out of the hobby ( in again) for about
16 years. So I may be of help as far as filteration, good keeping, water
changing, and all those type questions. It really is a great hobby,
enjoy it.

This group does seem somewhat dead. I've been post here lately,
http://www.tropicalfishforum.org/forum/
This is a pretty new forum itself. I made two post there just a few minutes
ago. One asking how long to leave fish in a QT tank and one about how to get
rid of snails in a planted Angelfish tank. Any feedback to those questions
would be apprecated.

---
John in St. Louis Mo.

Hi there,

i'm not exactly new here, as I subscribe to this newsgroup, I must
admit it really is one of the quiet groups on usenet.

I have been in and out of the hobby since the age of 12 and I have kept
a lot of the more common fish, in addition to New world cichlids, like
angels, discus, texas cichlids, firemouths, ruby cichlids and others.
Currently I'm keeping discus, some of which I've has over three years
and counting.
I'm kind of new to Malawi cichlids and African cichlids in general.
Having kept kribs and some other lesser known west african cichlids, I
finally decided in january last year that I would try my hand at
Malawis. So I got a few small ones, like melanochromis, yello labido
and electric blue hap, as well as some other striped cichlids. In
September last year I moved them to their new home, which is a 4ft 300l
tank, with crushed coral for substrate and an integrated filter unit in
the hood. lately I've added a couple of peacocks and tanganyikans like
tropheus and julidochromis spp.

Well they are a whole lot different in manner than the new world
cichlids and are quite a bunch. I'm very happy with them and I still
have lots to learn about their breeding and husbandry.

The discus on the other hand are in a 4ft 300l tank as well. The tank
design is similar if not identical. The filter is situated in the hood,
so the inlet pipe leads into the powerhead which pumps the water up to
a spray bar that sprays the water over floss mat and then sintered
glass rings. There are three such compartments , the last is where I
put the Activated Carbon and peat occasionally. goes without saying
that the African themed tank has crushed coral as opposed to peat.

Cichlids are and most likely always will be my favourite class of fish.
I'm hooked, yes, definitely!
Kind regards,
Stokes