I have been in this hobby since 1969 and all the dicussion we have been haveing I got started thinking that there are hobbyist out there that have never kept dwarfs because they dont know anthing about them. I wil be the first to admit hat the Apitogrmmas can be hard to find but most local fish shops are very willing to order them if asked and if they can get them.The dwarfs I am talking about are all form South America.The ones I will talk about are Apistogrmmas that are esy to keep and are not picky about P H.I will say that with any aquarium water changes are the most important thing. Apistogrmma borelli andapisto cacatuoides are esay to keep they can and do live in higher P H Male Borelli are blue in colorthey get around 3 inches the female are smaller and yellow in color they will eat flake to blood worm and brine shrimp as well. apisto cactuoides are bigger the males have red or orange dorsal fins and tails.females are smaller again yellow in color. and will eat any thinhg that is offerd.The next cichlid is Laetacara Curviceps they grow to 3 to 4 inchs eat anything and are not picky about P H they are easy to spawn THEY ARE VERY GOOD PARNETS. T he last dwarf is Nanacara Anomala the males are emerald grenn in color teh females are yellow they are easy to spawnand are good parnets . These are in my opinion are the best dwarf cichlids for thsoe fo you that have nevr kept them but would like to try them.I hope that this will generte some interst in dwarf cichlids. Thanks dwarf cichlids in Tucson. KEEP MORE DWARF CICHLIDS SUPPORT OUR TROOPS

Well, I have to say bad grammar for 50 years old but, great info. Would Rams be Dwarfs too? Also, are dwarfs all the same size?

Those are more typeing errors than anything else Senegal so be easy! I think rams may be dwarfs. I do not think they are all the same size. I do not know anything about dwarfs so i am not for sure.

eh, just saying, I do make errors too. I want rams but, I hear they are very sensitive. Had to move the male HRP and he went crazy, flopped out of the net, made sure he was ok and he jump again. I noticed how dark the blue was on him... Just amazing. I want some Apistos.

Yes, Senegal, rams (Microgeophagus sp.) fall into the "traditional" dwarf cichlid category, as well as the genera Nannacara, Taeniacara, Crenicara, and Apistogrammoides. Laetecara is usually considered a "dwarf" genus as well.

Although not usually thought of as "dwarf" cichlids when the terminology is used, several West African genera, (Pelmatochromis, Nanochromis, and Pelvicachromis), have species that are smaller than some of the larger Apistogramma sp., and the Lake Tanganyikan genera Neolamprologus and Telmatochromis both have "dwarf" species as well. The East African genus Pseudocrenilabrus contains several species that are dwarfs. Several fish in each of these genera have an adult length of three inches or less.

All dwarf species are not the same size. The smaller Apistogrammas only get a coupla inches long, while some of the larger will reach three inches or a bit more. Apistogrammoides pucallpaensis doesn't get to two inches. Generally speaking, I consider a dwarf to be any species that has an adult length less than 4 inches.

There are also species not normally considered "dwarf" cichlids that really fall into the category. Biotodoma sp. and several Julidochromis sp. come to mind.

So, as ya can see the definition of what a "dwarf" cichlid is flexible, and the term "dwarf cichlid" can have different interpretations by different hobbyists. There are dozens of species in the genera above and in other genera not named that could be considered "dwarf" cichlids. Hope this helped rather than confused the issue for ya.

WYite

Hmmm...I was going to comment but wyite beat me to it and covered about everything very well already.

Hey I was in a hurry sorry about he grammer I will do better next time I was hopeing to get the response I got I want to see more people keep dwarf cichlids I didnt try to cover the African dwarfs didnt have time . Yes rams are dwarfs but they are easy to get so I want to inculde mostly Apistos.

lol...don't sweat the grammar...this is not english class it's a fun place to talk about our hobby...

Thank you for that I have to say this is the first fish forum site that I spend any thime on. I belive that the only way this hobby will continue is for old dogs like me to be involed in this type of thing. When I got into this hoppy they didny have caniter filters the under gravel fiters where tube with holes in them .Is there any one that still uses under gravel fiters any more? they are hard use in a cichlid tanks if they dig.

Yeah...some people still use under gravel filters. However most people I know that use them and actually like them are ones that reverse the flow of the filter so it pushes crud out of the gravel and then use a canister to suck up anything floating. This way they don't have to gravel vac as often

Yep, they are still in use.....pretty much useless in Tanks where fish dig though.

All I will say is the hobby has come a looong why since I started and thats a good thing I used u g f untill I started keeping live plants now all I use is power filters my 60 gallion came with a canister filter but the caniter had a HUGE crack in the side that I didnt see when I set it up water went everywhere so I had to buy a new filter so I got 2 emporers with the bio wheel yes I know its over doing the filtartion but I like a lot of water movement and I get it