# What are the 10 most popular African Cichlids?



## Triplesevenscc (Aug 10, 2011)

I am looking into creating a t-shirt company with cichlid based designs and am wondering what are the 10 most popular cichlids?

I would think yellow labs and demasoni would make the cut but their my favorite.


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## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

Perhaps you might create a poll where people could vote for their favorites.


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## Triplesevenscc (Aug 10, 2011)

vann59 said:


> Perhaps you might create a poll where people could vote for their favorites.


The reason I did't do a pool is there are far to many options and if I made the list of what I thought were the top 10 I would probably miss many. I love Lake Malawi Mbuna and my list would include mostly them. They are popular but so are peacocks and Frontosa what they would be skipped on the poll and then the vote wouldbe flawed. So what do you think popular cichlids are?


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## Guest (Aug 13, 2011)

you want the most popular or our opinion on the best, most liked, or just our favorite? while yellow labs and demasoni are popular i dont like either of them at all and would never keep them.. i like much rarer fish personaly i would def say that yellow labs are probly the most popular


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## Aspencer (Jul 23, 2011)

I hope to get a 55 going so I would be interested in what fish you think have the best personality.


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## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

I would have to agree that yellow labs are very popular, and agreeable temperament is partly the reason. You are hitting right in there though, mbuna's, haps, and peacocks are very popular. A new article here says mbunas and haps are the most popular groups. Individual preferences of course, are all over the place. If you did shirts with these in mind, using the frequently discussed species, you wouldn't go wrong.


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## Guest (Aug 13, 2011)

a ruby red peacock or lwanda and you cant go wrong


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## allierw (Apr 20, 2006)

Hard to define...would "popular" equate in this case to "most easily recognizable"? If so, you are mostly talking about Labs, Red Zebras, Cobalt Blue Zebras, Rusties, Auratus, Kenyi, S. Fryeri, Frontosa, Convicts, and Angels maybe? Probably a few others. I think most of those you could show to people and they would agree that those are a cichlid.


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## brinkles (Jan 30, 2011)

tropheus, way too many types though to pick 1


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I imagine marketable would be the goal. Probably the same ten that CichlidPress sells on it's T-shirts and mugs and stuff.


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## Triplesevenscc (Aug 10, 2011)

Thank you for the responses!


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## mobafrontlover (May 1, 2011)

Frontosas would have to be in that list also


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## kaphil (Aug 3, 2006)

In terms of common fish that people are likely to recognise on a T shirt, and covering some of the different groups in terms of geography, I'd say these would be up there - S American: angelfish and discus; C American: convict and firemouth; west african: kribs and jewels; malawi: probably yellow lab; tanganyika: frontosa and perhaps n brichardi or a julie


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## verbal (Aug 16, 2011)

I would try to get a representative from each region.

West African - krib or jewel 
Tanganikan - Frontosa, Tropheus(dubosi or birchardi), Lamprologous (calvus or shellie), Boulengerochromis microlepis 
Malawi - Peacock(one of the blue species), Hap(Nimbochromis venustus or "Eye biter" ), Mbuna(red zebra or cynotilapia afra)
Victorian - Zebra Obliquens or Christmas Fulu
Madagascar - not sure species, but there are some interesting options

I think this would give you a good mix of the familiar and the unusual. I think you can play around a lot with the exact species.


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## ryans125g (Jul 18, 2011)

Aulonocara- Hansbaenschi (red shoulder)


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## leftfish (Apr 27, 2010)

My LFS in Los Angeles sets up many show tanks on TV shows and Peacocks are always the favorite. Yellow, Ruby Red Firefish and OB always stands out.

When the TV Show "Tanked" did a Cichlid tank they focused on the above Peacocks, Hap Moori (Dolphin), Tropheus Moorii, Red Zebra, Venustus, Ovatus and a few others I can't remember.

My favs are White Calvus, Compressiceps (Eye Biter), Venustus, OB Zebra, Red German Peacock, Blue Cobalt Zebra, Frontosa, Jack Dempsey Electric Blue and Kenyi.

Dan


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## sarah (Feb 22, 2003)

arent pseudotropheous salosi (sp) pretty popular? those and yellow labs were my first about 10 years ago.


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## des (Mar 30, 2011)

Anything you would easily find at a local fish store would deem popular in my opinion. Here are the first 10 off the top of my head.

Yellow labs
Demasoni
Frontosa
German red peacocks
S. Fryer
C. Moorii (dolphin)
Compressiceps
M. Estherae (red zebra)
P.acei
sunshine peacocks


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## johnchor (Apr 2, 2011)

hi folks,

just my thoughts, i think if going by the 3 lakes:
my personal list will be:

1) Lake malawi mbunas
yellow labs
P.acei

2) Lake malawi Haps
Blue peacock

3) Lake Tangayika
N.bichardi
Black Calvus

4) Lake Victoria
P.nyereri
Kyoga flameback

thanks


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

The 10 most popular cichlids in terms of sales, are not likely to yield you the best sales in shirts. The 10 most popular, are probably common fish, that beginner or casual hobbyists might keep. There are probably the people least likely to purchase a T-Shirt IMO. You probably want the ten most popular to more avid aquarists.


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## DIAMOND_CICHLIDS (Sep 22, 2011)

*vann59* what kind of fish is in your picture? its so nice :thumb:


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