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Well, here we are, another year! Wishing a brilliant New Year to all our readers. May all of your cichlids live long and prosper
in the coming new year. I am particularly pleased with this issue of Cichlid News: it is a collection of great articles
from great aquarists I am privileged to know and call ‘friend’. And I am in the mix too, this time. We start off with an article about an eclectic group of African cichlids, the so-called ‘Soda Cichlids’, of the genus Alcolapia. These four species are tilapiines adapted to the harsh environment of the volcanic lakes Natron, and Magadi where evaporation has drastically increased both salinity and alkalinity levels: the pH is around 10 while the salinity is just under 10%. Areas of these waters contain open fissures where expelled volcanic gas can heat the water to in excess of 50 °C (122 °F)!! Clearly, these are extreme cichlids that can live here! Greg writes about maintaining and spawning one of these hardy soda cichlids, Alcolapia alcalicus. Truly incredible! Our friend from Mexico, Juan Miguel Artigas Azas contributes an insightful article on that old aquarium favorite, the firemouth cichlid Thorichthys meeki. His comprehensive article is based on his experiences with them both in the wild and in the aquarium. Parenthetically, what prompted Juan Miguel to write this article was his correct observation that never in the history of Cichlid News had we run an article on this popular fish. This oversight now corrected in style! Thanks Juan! Intrepid collector/importer/photographer and frequent contributor to Cichlid News, Oliver Lucanus shares photos of and experiences with three heretofore unavailable species of African cichlids: Ctenochromis luluae, Tylochromis jentinki, and Pelmatochromis buettikoferi. While none of these very unusual cichlids will ever win a ‘Beauty Prize’, nevertheless, they make up for this in sheer rarity and interest. Ad Konings writes about a group of Lepidiolamprologus species from the rocky habitat of Lake Tanganyika he calls the ‘Torpedo Hunters’. As the name suggests, these are relatively large torpedo-shaped predators that as adults feed mainly, in some cases exclusively, on other fish. Species include L. elongatus, profundicola, kendalli, mimicus, and the newly-described (Kullander et al. 2012) species kamambae. Speaking of new species, my own article on ‘Green Terrors’ updates the nomenclatural situation with respect to these fish. When I last wrote about them in January 2011 issue of Cichlid News, I reported the description of the new genus Andinoacara and a new species of Green Terror, A. stalsbergi. I also speculated on the identity of the “true rivulatus”. Two years later, and we have both another new species added to the genus (A. blombergi) and a clarification and redescription of A. rivulatus. We conclude this New Year’s issue with an expanded ‘My Favorite 6 Cichlids’ by my longtime friend Lee Finley. Although known in aquarium circles primarily for his contributions in catfish, before he discovered their charm, Lee was a serious cichlid keeper. His contribution to our series is full of historical reminiscence about the early African cichlid hobby. I am proud to say that I lived much of it with him as friends and co-conspirators in 1970’s New Haven, CT. Nice to remember. Finally, Laif DeMason caps off the issue, as usual, with “What’s New”. We think we have a great issue for you this time. Enjoy it and enjoy your cichlids! |
Wayne S. Leibel, Editor  |
