# Good book for central american cichlids?



## lmhollist (Aug 7, 2009)

Anyone have any book recommendations that focus on central american species? I have the latest edition of Ad Konings "Malawi Cichlids in Their Natural Habitat" and as far as pictures and information goes, it is absolutely amazing. I've found a few on amazon but nothing more recent than 2001 ... and I'm pretty sure that's going to have a lot of outdated information. I guess what I'm really looking for is a book that has a lot of pictures in color that show both male and female representations plus information regarding habitat, eating and breeding habits. Ad Konings book does an excellent job of this for Lake Malawi and I'd really like to have something comparable.

Thanks!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Unfortunately with fish books... As soon as they are printed they are obsolete... That's how fast information and names change... I have konings and conkels books from the early 90's that I still love to look through...


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## lmhollist (Aug 7, 2009)

Yeah ... it's amazing how fish classifications seem to change by the day. However, something with lots of color pictures would be nice ... even if it is just to look at. I'd just like something as recent as possible. The reviews on Amazon are quite conflicting ... one leads to another book and when you look at the review for that book another person recommends the prior. Seems like Africans are much more represented in the book world than New Worlds.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

That's the case because africans are still "new" in the realm of cichlids... CA/SA cichlids have been in the hobby for a long time!


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

For details about habitat and collection data, Linke and Staek's "American Cichlids II: Large Cichlids" is still cool. Very old now, so alot of the genus have been corrected since then. But of course, details about the pH and such of the collection sites won't have changed. And the pictures are great quality. I haven't seen any newer books focusing on centrals though.


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## dogofwar (Apr 5, 2004)

My favorite is this one:
Cichlids From Central America
A book study of Central American cichlids
Ad Konings, 1989
T.F.H. Publications
ISBN: 0-86622-700-8

http://www.cichlidae.com/review.php?id=12

Eventhough it's out of print, there are used ones from $8.98:
http://www.amazon.com/Cichlids-Central- ... 0866227008

Although some of the names are out of date (the nature of printed books), this book provides a solid base of understanding on the different groups and types of CA cichlids, their care, breeding, and even evolution. It's not perfect but I still read it 

The next GREAT central american cichlid book will seek to document and describe geographic variation in new world fish the way that has been done in Lake Malawi (with the peacocks and mbuna). Just as a peacock from one part of the lake is "different" than a peacock from another part of the lake, a "convict" from one river system in Honduras is "different" than a "convict" from another river system. I'm not sure that the field work has been done to write such a book, however!

Matt


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