About Me
Brief discription of my history with Malawi Cichlids.
I wrote and published my first website back in February 2002 under the domain name African Rifts.
My History with Malawi Cichlids
I started in the late 80`s keeping cold water fish in a 12" x 10" x 8" tank which I then changed for a 24" x 10" x 10", then a 30 x 12" x 12". This tank was quickly changed to a 48" x 18" x 15" and was home to some very nice south american cichlids. I then decided to keep the larger central americans so I chanced to a 72" x 24" x 12" and kept some very nice central americans such as Synspilum and Bifasiatum. I was soon introduced to Malawi Cichlids from somebody whom had been keeping them for many years.
My lovely central american setup was quickly replaced by a 72" x 24" x 18" tank and was alive with Malawi Cichlids that gave me many years of entertainment. Unfortunatly this tank had to be closed down due to a house move so I had a brief break. I then started up again with a 36" x 18" x 15", then changed this for a 48" x 18" x 15" as well as having various fry tanks on the go as there was always a holding female. However this was not good enough as I wanted to keep even more Malawi Cichlids so I then swapped the 48" x 18" x 15" for a 84" x 24" x 18" tank which on the stand stood nearly 6 foot tall.
My love for Malawi Cichlids is great but I also needed space in the living room. This setup was dominating it so I decided to settle for something abit smaller. My next tank was the 5 foot Juwel Rio 400. This tank ran happily for 3 years until I decided that it was now to small for the open swimming family of Malawi Cichlids that I wanted to keep. This tank was then closed down and all the fish were seperated and re-homed except for the few that I was keeping. I then set up another 72" x 24" x 18" tank for my larger open swimming Haplochromis but just 2 years later a change in family circumstances sadly left me with no choice but to close this tank.
I no longer have time or space for large tanks but being the Cichlid lover that I am I could not give up the hobby completely. I have had a small group of my favourite fish Aristochromis Christyi imported and now i am just concentrating on breeding these.
