Cichlid City - Cichlid Press and Aqualog cichlid books, catfish books, Malawi cichlid books, Tanganyika cichlid books, discus books, tropical fishkeeping books, etc

This book has been written by 12 authors, each of them a specialist for many years in his or her field, and is the distillation of a total of more than 300 years experience in keeping cichlids. The result is an invaluable guide to the essentials of enjoying cichlids.

Includes essential notes on aquarium care for each type of cichlid, together with behaviour in the wild, stunning photographs, advice on feeding, how to tell males from females, how to breed them etc etc - all written by experts who have not only kept but in many instances studied these fish in their natural habitats !

Did you know for example that the 'washed-out' appearance of some fish is not necessarily due to poor breeding, but to feeding, and that by using the right foods as suggested in this book, you can turn your fish into STUNNING specimens just by changing what you feed them ? !!

Have you ever wondered which cichlids can be mixed in the same tank ?  This book gives you several listings of aggression levels of various species, which will help you in your choice.

What other book offers you close-up photos of the vents of male and female species from various genuses to allow you to vent-sex your fish ?

Did you know that some larger cichlids (eg Uaru) shed large amounts of mucus when moved, which can contaminate their water on long journeys, and so are best transported in buckets rather than bags, and a suppy of clean tank water taken so that a complete change can be made if necessary ?

Did you know that most discus die because they are fed the wrong food ?

Did you know that some Tanganyikan cichlids will only breed in tiny caves that the pair can only enter with difficulty at the same time ?

The chapter on live foods is particularly enjoyable, as the author takes you through the history of fish food from before World War II into the 21st century !

THIS BOOK IS AN ESSENTIAL ADDITION TO ANY AQUARIST'S LIBRARY, AND MAKES AN IDEAL GIFT FOR ANYONE HOOKED ON CICHLIDS OF ANY TYPE.  AFTER ALL, MOST CICHLID KEEPERS WHO SPECIALISE IN A PARTICULAR TYPE OF CICHLID (eg Malawi or Central Americans) ARE NOT ONLY INTERESTED TO READ ABOUT OTHER TYPES OF CICHLID, BUT AT SOME STAGE ARE LIKELY TO CONSIDER TRYING SOMETHING DIFFERENT.  THIS GUIDE OFFERS THE BASICS AND MORE OF EVERY CICHLID TYPE, AND SHOWS YOU THE BEST WAY TO KEEP AND BREED STUNNING CICHLIDS.

— AULONOCARA peacocks from Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi is a large, beautiful African Rift Valley lake, bordered by Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique. Its biodiversity is simply extraordinary by any standard – it has the greatest wealth of fish species of all the lakes in the world. The vast majority of this ichthyofauna belongs to just one family, the Cichlidae, and most of the cichlid species are endemic to the lake. These fishes are of major economic importance as an important source of protein for the riparian people. They are also of great value as research subjects in a wide array of biological disciplines and are currently at the forefront of evolutionary research. Many of these cichlids, especially the mbuna, enjoy considerable popularity in the specialised aquarium hobby.

Less than half of the 800 or more estimated cichlid species from Lake Malawi are described, and many of those only in superficial terms. All kinds of taxonomic problems abound at both species and genus level. This makes studying these fishes quite a challenge. Several genera or parts of genera have been revised in this book; about forty new species have been described and many species reported for the first time, with each given a provisional working name. About 270 black and white or colour illustrations of these fishes have been included to facilitate their identification. The research reported in this book was carried out as part of the GEF/SADC Lake Malawi/Nyasa Biodiversity Conservation Project in Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique, financed by grants from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and with the support of the UK Department For International Development (DFID). Its results are based on the data collected during the two years of the first ever lake-wide survey programme.

All of the chapters except one were written by members of the systematics team stationed at Senga Bay, Malawi: Jackie Chisambo, Thomas Nyasulu and Rhoda Walapa from Malawi, Ben Ngatunga from Tanzania, Joao Manuel from Mozambique, Mark Hanssens and Jos Snoeks from Belgium. A valuable additional contribution was made by the team of the Ncheni project coordinated by George Turner (UK). Dave Voorvelt, the GEF/SADC project’s artist, has added a lot of extra scientific value to the book through his beautiful and accurate colour illustrations of Malawi fishes.

Jos Snoeks is curator of fishes at the Zoology Department of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium.

ISBN 0-9668255-8-6

360 pages; size 20 x 27 cm (8" x 11"); 75 color drawings; hundreds of black & white photos, maps, graphs; hardcover; Price: $79.50