African Cichlid Community Tank

All of the Tropical Fish Stores in my Metropolitan Area (300,000+
population) do not adjust the water parameters of their water for African
cichlids. Also, all of these Tropical/Marine fish stores sell their fish
from at least one tank called mixed cichlids. I suspect that Petsmart, which
has about six stores in this area, sells about 10 times more fish than all
of these smaller tropical fish stores combined.

What economic advantage is it to them (Petsmart) to keep their fish in poor,
life threatening, water conditions, as you claim they are doing.

For the record, I do buffer my cichlid's water with Seachem's
Malawi/Victoria Buffer, but the freshwater fish who swim in the same tank
with them, seem to be a healthy lot, dispite my misguided efforts on their
behalf.

"Amateur Cichlids" wrote in message
. ..

"Sokar" wrote in message
...
The local pet stores, Petsmart, ect., do not charge their water
parameters for their cichlid fish, but please note that they want to sell
you water conditioners, pH adjusters for your tank, and special dietary
food for your fish in your "special" African tank.

Marketing rules, "profits are us" rules, are meant to be broken.


I personally don't buy fish from shops like Wal*Mart, or any other shop
that sells "Mixed Africans". When N. leleupi were first imported, they
were kept in soft water. None of the imported fish lived longer than a
year. The people here thought they required the same water conditions as
the West African cichlids they'd imported in the past.
Hardier fish like many of the Mbuna can be acclimated to different
water conditions and be mixed with other fish. And if you feed them the
wrong thing and they die, well that's a four dollar fish dead. If you buy
a Cyathopharynx foae and mix it with the wrong fish and it gets stressed
and dies, well now you've killed a hundred dollar fish. Your views on
water conditions and mixing may change a bit. These are fish you'll not
find currently at places like Wal*mart.
If you're so sure it's only a marketing ploy, I think we should conduct
a test. Go purchase yourself some Xenotilapia sp "papilio" from Lake
Tanganyika and acclimate them to a tank with a pH of about 6 and a
hardness below three. Then toss a few Melanochromis in the tank. By your
thinking, you'll have nothing to worry about, the fish will thrive and be
happy so long as you pack enough fish in there. If you can get them to
live say 6 X. sp "papilio" and 6 M. auratus in a 55 gallon tank with no
deaths for a year, I'd be willing to pay for the fish. ;-)
Being uneducated in the interactions between certain species and having
a few fish live together for more than a month, does not make you an
expert. I don't claim to be an expert myself, but I've lost fish when I
started by mixing incompatible species, and I've lost fish to improper
water parameters. I prefer to research now and keep my fish in their
proper environments to protect my investment.
Tim
www.fishaholics.org

"Sokar" wrote in message
...
All of the Tropical Fish Stores in my Metropolitan Area (300,000+
population) do not adjust the water parameters of their water for African
cichlids. Also, all of these Tropical/Marine fish stores sell their fish
from at least one tank called mixed cichlids. I suspect that Petsmart,
which has about six stores in this area, sells about 10 times more fish
than all of these smaller tropical fish stores combined.

What economic advantage is it to them (Petsmart) to keep their fish in
poor, life threatening, water conditions, as you claim they are doing.

snip

I think you may be missing my point completely. Petsmart, Wal*Mart, etc,
etc do not sell expensive tropical fish. They don't carry some of the nicer
fish one may find in Lake Tanganyika, because "They're too aggressive" or
"They're too hard to keep alive.". Much of which is bull, but I've heard it
from numerous shops in my area. These little shops and big chains for their
African cichlids selection, they carry "Mixed Africans" which come from
their supplier that way. These are cheap fish that cost these big chains
little. If they lose a couple fish in the week they spend in the store, it's
not a big loss to the store. As I mentioned with the N. leleupi that were
imported and put in soft water, they died within a year. It's not an instant
death in many cases. These are fish that should be living many, many years.
I enjoy my tanks and I enjoy the programming on my site. If you don't
feel the need to match fish to conditions to prolong their life, that's your
perogative. If you feel your fish will live just as long as mine will, more
power to you. I can only pass on what I've learned and give the point of
view of the biologists and ichthyologists. Either way, it really doesn't
matter to me. Happy fish keeping. =)
Tim

My thoughts on the Mixed Africans can be found in this article.
http://www.fishaholics.org/articles.php?ArtId=1

Also , I think you will agree, that fish in Aquarium's , pet shops, are
only there for a relative short time. It's up to you, the new owner to
provide the correct conditions. and who knows what some of these shops add
to the water, to keep the fish looking good.
bassett


"Amateur Cichlids" wrote in message
...

"Sokar" wrote in message
...
All of the Tropical Fish Stores in my Metropolitan Area (300,000+
population) do not adjust the water parameters of their water for African
cichlids. Also, all of these Tropical/Marine fish stores sell their fish
from at least one tank called mixed cichlids. I suspect that Petsmart,
which has about six stores in this area, sells about 10 times more fish
than all of these smaller tropical fish stores combined.

What economic advantage is it to them (Petsmart) to keep their fish in
poor, life threatening, water conditions, as you claim they are doing.

snip

I think you may be missing my point completely. Petsmart, Wal*Mart,
etc, etc do not sell expensive tropical fish. They don't carry some of the
nicer fish one may find in Lake Tanganyika, because "They're too
aggressive" or "They're too hard to keep alive.". Much of which is bull,
but I've heard it from numerous shops in my area. These little shops and
big chains for their African cichlids selection, they carry "Mixed
Africans" which come from their supplier that way. These are cheap fish
that cost these big chains little. If they lose a couple fish in the week
they spend in the store, it's not a big loss to the store. As I mentioned
with the N. leleupi that were imported and put in soft water, they died
within a year. It's not an instant death in many cases. These are fish
that should be living many, many years.
I enjoy my tanks and I enjoy the programming on my site. If you don't
feel the need to match fish to conditions to prolong their life, that's
your perogative. If you feel your fish will live just as long as mine
will, more power to you. I can only pass on what I've learned and give the
point of view of the biologists and ichthyologists. Either way, it really
doesn't matter to me. Happy fish keeping. =)
Tim

My thoughts on the Mixed Africans can be found in this article.
http://www.fishaholics.org/articles.php?ArtId=1