You could wonder why profitable cichlid owners know these seemingly trivial details. As you watch your Oscar or Angelfish lazily swim or vigorously safeguard its territory, you contend you don’t care exactly where this beautiful fish comes from.

But if you know where these fish originated from then you will be in a position to better recognize why they have the requirements of food, water and general care that they do – and you’ll be a significantly far more successful owner for it!

While you can discover them in aquariums across the globe, there are only a restricted quantity of geographical locations a cichlid would call a home. A handful of species are found as far north as the state of Texas in the U.S. From there if you travel south, you will see them down through to Argentina.

Cichlids can also be spotted all through all of Africa as nicely as specific places in the Middle East. Cichlids, for example, are identified off the island of Madagascar as nicely in the waters surrounding Sri Lanka and along the southern coast of India.

In reality, there are handful of places exactly where native cichlids aren’t identified.

They are not found naturally in the Far East. They are not identified naturally in Australia. And you can’t locate any living as natives in North America north of the state of Texas.

That is not to say, that you won’t find them living in parts of the globe that is not their all-natural home. These fish have been transplanted to just about all places of the globe. Even though they are not a native species, you can come across them living in a lot of of the waters of southern Florida.

As you can most likely envision with so several species, the cichlid loved ones is a lesson in diversity. They come in just about each and every imaginable color and size. What’s far more, the different species cover a range of behaviors and are found in an array of environments.

That, in turn, makes them a challenge to characterize and often, just a challenge to recognize! A accurate cichlid lover, though, seems to be in a position to determine that “cichlid appear”. And yes, if you continue on with this hobby, so will you.

What you probably haven’t realized is that you’ve no doubt seen cichlids prior to but just didn’t know they had been a component of the cichlid loved ones. Have you ever admired an angelfish? Yep, it is a cichlid.

How about the tropical fish, Oscar? No, it’s not his initial name, it’s his species. Yes, he’s a cichlid, too. Surprised?

By now, you may be questioning if there are any freshwater tropical fish that do not belong to the cichlid family members. There are! Really a few of them, in truth! You may possibly be fooled simply because numerous marine fish resemble the cichlids.

What makes a cichlid a cichlid? Very a couple of characteristics, starting with getting freshwater fish as previously mentioned. Positive, there is an occasional exception, but for the most element, you can safely say that being a freshwater fish is a unifying trait of all loved ones members.