# cichlid keeping



## sulcata2big (Oct 26, 2009)

just wondering how big is cichlid keeping in america,its pretty poor in the uk but quite big in europe.

mick


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## Lancerlot (Feb 22, 2006)

sulcata2big said:


> just wondering how big is cichlid keeping in america,its pretty poor in the uk but quite big in europe.
> 
> mick


Well seeing as a huge % of the worlds fresh water is in canada/us its a popular hobby.


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## mok3t (Nov 28, 2008)

Cichlid keeping in the UK isnt poor if you know where to look. We use a fish shop who can get ALMOST anything and stocks Tang, Malawi, and a LOT of American cichlids too. Ya gotta look for the right places man  Have faith!


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Lancerlot said:


> Well seeing as a huge % of the worlds fresh water is in canada/us its a popular hobby.


Seriously?!? What percentage?

Being pedantic, most of the worlds (about two thirds) fresh water is locked up in frozen glaciers. Much of the rest is underground. Only 0.3 percent of the worlds freshwater is surface water. Now the Great Lakes of the USA & Canada and Lake Baikal in Russia contain a large portion of the worlds surface water, which means most of the water is locked up in relatively small areas. It's not like this water is spread out over the North American continent.

Now how _X_ percentage of the worlds freshwater being found in the North American continent translates into cichlid keeping being a popular hobby eludes me.

Much more likely, the close proximity of North America to South America (yes I'm well aware cichlids also come from Africa), the relatively lax import laws in regards live animals into the USA, the large percentage of middle class with disposable income and free time to devout to hobbies, etc etc would likely have more to do with fish keeping in general being a popular past time.

Now it might be interesting to see what percentage of the frshwater fish keepers keep cichlids, and see if there is a variance bewteen the different geographical regions of the world. I.E. What percentage of the population of Western Europe keep freshwater fish, and what percentage keep cichlids and compare this to Northern America, and say the Asia Pacific region.

But to say it's a popular hobby becuase much of the worlds fresh water is found in the US and Canada is, well, I don't know how to say it politely.....


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Well it is popular, though I'm not sure how the fresh water fits in.

One study I read a few years ago said that there are aquariums in 1 out of 3 homes in the US.

But in terms and spending power in aquarium terms, Japan and Germany blow the US out of the water.

I'm not sure how many of those in the states specialize, but I think it would be safe to say cichlids are the largest specialist group. If aquariums follow other hobby trends in terms of stastics, only a third of the hobbists specialize. So I'd guess half of the specialists are cichlids that would still only be about 16.5%.

Just a guess.


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## Lancerlot (Feb 22, 2006)

> Seriously?!? What percentage?


2.5% of the water in the world is fresh water.

Canada has roughly 20% of the worlds water supply. But only 9% is accessible.

Oh side fact btw. You know why they want us to save paper its cause of this
"Approximately 300 litres of water is required to produce 1 kilogram of paper" Fresh water to btw.


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

And how does this equate to cichlid keeping being a popular hobby?

Did you read all of my post?

Wouldn't mind some of that water being shipped down here, we are after the driest continent on earth. Oh look it's raining. :roll:


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

DeadFishFloating said:


> Wouldn't mind some of that water being shipped down here, we are after the driest continent on earth.


Actually, second driest ... there is one entire continent that is a desert in terms of rainfall ...


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

> Canada has roughly 20% of the worlds water supply. But only 9% is accessible.


Are you sure of the 20% freshwater supply. I'm just looking at some Global freshwater resources graphs, and it looks like most is locked up in Antartica. Certainly 20% of the worlds surface water, but this is different to water supply. Finally it's 9% of the worlds renewable water resources.


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

dwarfpike said:


> DeadFishFloating said:
> 
> 
> > Wouldn't mind some of that water being shipped down here, we are after the driest continent on earth.
> ...


Fine! I'm of to antartica with my sisters hair dryer and a kick *** generator. Watch out global climate change.

Ummm, anyone got an Anorak I can borrow?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'm not so sure cichlids are the largest specialty group either. My club does not specialize in cichlids and we are in the NYC area so could it be considered a cross section?

There are a lot of people who do live-bearers and killis. And what about goldfish and koi? Catfish specializers, etc.


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## sulcata2big (Oct 26, 2009)

mok3t said:


> Cichlid keeping in the UK isnt poor if you know where to look. We use a fish shop who can get ALMOST anything and stocks Tang, Malawi, and a LOT of American cichlids too. Ya gotta look for the right places man  Have faith!


hi can you pm me some details

mick :fish:


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## webgirl74 (Jan 30, 2009)

OK, well this thread has become somewhat bitter and personal, although I'm not sure why?? I think just like anything else, fish/cichlid keeping will be more popular in larger centres where fish and supplies are readily available. I know quite a few people in my city that sell and trade fish to eachother regularly to cut down on costs. Ordering fish through the mail is expensive and not everyone wants to go to that extent to keep fish. Personally, I like to see the fish I'm buying. So yeah, I'd have to say that cichlid keeping is pretty widespread. There are members on here from all corners of the globe.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

webgirl74 said:


> OK, well this thread has become somewhat bitter and personal,


it did?

Tone doesn't convey well on forums... perhaps you are mistaking humor for aggression?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

:lol: I was re-reading the prior posts to see where that part was myself.


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## webgirl74 (Jan 30, 2009)

I may have totally misunderstood...just these comments sounded a bit terse.

"_Seriously?!? What percentage?

Being pedantic, most of the worlds (about two thirds) fresh water is locked up in frozen glaciers. Much of the rest is underground. Only 0.3 percent of the worlds freshwater is surface water. Now the Great Lakes of the USA & Canada and Lake Baikal in Russia contain a large portion of the worlds surface water, which means most of the water is locked up in relatively small areas. It's not like this water is spread out over the North American continent.

Now how X percentage of the worlds freshwater being found in the North American continent translates into cichlid keeping being a popular hobby eludes me.

Much more likely, the close proximity of North America to South America (yes I'm well aware cichlids also come from Africa), the relatively lax import laws in regards live animals into the USA, the large percentage of middle class with disposable income and free time to devout to hobbies, etc etc would likely have more to do with fish keeping in general being a popular past time.

Now it might be interesting to see what percentage of the frshwater fish keepers keep cichlids, and see if there is a variance bewteen the different geographical regions of the world. I.E. What percentage of the population of Western Europe keep freshwater fish, and what percentage keep cichlids and compare this to Northern America, and say the Asia Pacific region.

But to say it's a popular hobby becuase much of the worlds fresh water is found in the US and Canada is, well, I don't know how to say it politely....."_

My bad if I misunderstood the humor...???


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Hey *webgirl74*,

In no way was my commentary meant to be malicious. I just failed to see how having a lot of freshwater translated into fishkeeping being a popular hobby. I also did some quick internet research to highlight that North America doesn't have a lot freshwater, though it does have a large percentage of the worlds surface freshwater, which can be interpreted as to different things.

I think most of the Mods and regulars in the SA forum know how to read my comments.

As for being a bit terse. Well sometimes I can't resist taking the mickey out of egocentric Yanks.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

OK *now* I see it. :roll:


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

DeadFishFloating said:


> Hey *webgirl74*,
> 
> In no way was my commentary meant to be malicious. I just failed to see how having a lot of freshwater translated into fishkeeping being a popular hobby. I also did some quick internet research to highlight that North America doesn't have a lot freshwater, though it does have a large percentage of the worlds surface freshwater, which can be interpreted as to different things.
> 
> ...


How about, our import laws are lax, nothing tropical can survive here and that's why we have more cichlids in the hobby. :lol:


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## webgirl74 (Jan 30, 2009)

DeadFishFloating said:


> Hey *webgirl74*,
> 
> In no way was my commentary meant to be malicious. I just failed to see how having a lot of freshwater translated into fishkeeping being a popular hobby. I also did some quick internet research to highlight that North America doesn't have a lot freshwater, though it does have a large percentage of the worlds surface freshwater, which can be interpreted as to different things.
> 
> ...


OK, OK I surrender! LOL I'm on here a fair bit, but honestly don't pay a lot of attention to the personality of each forum member, so I took it differently than you intended. The part about import laws in the US and the comment about there being a lot of middle class people in the US with lots of disposable income...I was like, ouch! hehe

On a side note, the person whose comment you originally responded to is Canadian, not a Yank. LOL Hey, I have to show a little patriotism, don't I?


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## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

Cichlid keeping seems pretty big in Western Canada but I don't think it has anything to do with our amount of fresh water. 
The water is too cold for cichlids anyways!!

Not everyone has a fish tank in my city but people who do, after sometime in the hobby and are serious about it, often gravitate toward cichlids after having done the community tank tetra-guppy thing.
Cichlids have interesting personality, colour, and breeding styles.


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

> OK, OK I surrender! LOL I'm on here a fair bit, but honestly don't pay a lot of attention to the personality of each forum member, so I took it differently than you intended. *The part about import laws in the US and the comment about there being a lot of middle class people in the US with lots of disposable income*...I was like, ouch! hehe


That part I was being straight up. Nothing about taking the mickey, or being terse. Middle class society anywhere allows a certain amount of free time and disposable income, allowing us to indulge in hobbies of various types. And compared to Australia, the USA has very lax import laws in regards to the fish.

I do realise the OP is from Canada, but as the Great Lakes straddle the US & Canadian borders, I had to include both nations.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Yankee does include both countries ... given that it's a word used to describe anyone born north of the Mason-Dixon line. Many people from the US aren't yankees thank goodness!!!


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## webgirl74 (Jan 30, 2009)

I don't know about that dwarfpike. I've lived in Canada all my life in various provinces and I've NEVER heard of any Canadian being referred to as a Yankee!


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

As I tell people when I am up there *webgirl74*, assuming a don't throw a punch for being insultingly called a yankee, is if they were born north of the Mason-Dixon line, they are more a yankee than I am!!! :lol:


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