# The "hobbyist" meaning of the term "Cichlid Tank", and the meaning of Cichlid.



## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

*The "hobbyist" meaning of the term "Cichlid Tank", and the meaning of Cichlid.*

As it came up in another thread, I thought I would post my thoughts and invite discussion on the topic of the ambiguity inherent in the term "cichlid", used in the phrase "cichlid tank". Rams and Angels are technically cichlids, for example, but when talking about "keeping cichlids", angels and rams are not included, usually, in the literature, or the hobbyist's intended meanings.
In another recent thread, AquariAM was talking about the way "Rams" 
(which are a cichlid) do not a "Cichlid tank" make. He is right, about
common usage within our hobby. Typically I would say I am running a "south american community tank", rather than refer to the term "cichlid" directly.

The roots of whether you are running a "cichlid tank" or a non-cichlid (presumably some other kind of non-community tank, or a community tank)
go back to original explosion of Cichlid keeping as an area of concentration for hobbyists.

The introduction of a massive variety of more challenging fish into the hobby, that were considered not suitable for beginner aquarium hobbyists, including lots of *non-community* fish from all over the world, happened, I believe
in the 1950s and 1960s. My grandfather started keeping cichlids in the 1960s, and at the time, there were a lot of people keeping guppies, goldfish in bowls, angel fish, rainbow fish, and a variety of peaceful community tank setups. I believe that even the Kribensis was widely kept before the explosion of more aggressive Cichlid types became common in the hobby.

It was in this decade, that I believe you started to see ornamental fish stores (1960s term),  or 'toy fish' stores (1920s term), as the terminology was then, divided into sections.

Easier fish to keep that didn't kill each other instantly would be dumped into the "community" section, and the most popular kind of "non community" fish, by far, was Cichlids. I am sure other oddballs would have been put with the cichlids. Oddball being anything non-community, or hard to keep alive, that isn't a cichlid.

The hobbyist lingo is remarkably persistent, because of the general need for aquarium stores and advanced hobbyists who are trying to warn off the noobs who insist on stocking a 20g tank with seven or eight flowerhorns. "You can't do that!..... " You have six seconds to tell the person why. The word cichlid is handy here, as is the general impression we need to rapidly communicate to people, that these creatures that you must learn something about, before you try to keep them. While it's considered bad form to keep a guppy or a goldfish, these days, without learning, Cichlids bring the pain back to you, with ignorant fishkeeping of guppies, the pain and suffering is entirely brought onto the heads of the little critters themselves, and the ignorant fishkeeper of peaceful community fish, is less likely to be dismayed by his own ignorance. A cichlid who reacts to a poorly conceived tank that he is placed in, however can cause the hobbyist considerable pain. At that point, the angry hobbyist would usually grab Mr. Grouchypants, the maltreated cichlid, and take him back to the store and demand an explanation from the owner, for the angry hobbyist's dead prize guppies, which were eaten by Mr. Grouchypants the Flowerhorn.

Today, a better scientific introduction to Cichlids is to say "Family cichlidae is one of the biggest, and most diverse groups of vertebrates on the planet, including over 1300 described species, within the order of perciformes". Some of them are aggressive. Some of them are not. Some of them will smash your unprotected heater. Some are piscivores, and some herbivores, and some eat insects, and some are rather extraordinarily flexible in their feeding.

But when all you have is five seconds at the fish store to explain to Mrs. Jones why the pretty orange fish she wants to put with her pretty blue fish, will probably eat or kill the pretty blue fish, then we go back to kindergarten talk, and we explain that "cichlids go in the cichlid tank, and mr giggles the guppy goes in the other tank".

Did I explain this well? Does anybody else find the dual usage of "Cichlid" confusing in the hobby?

W


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