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Petstore told me that they keep cichlids in brackish water. What do they mean?

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3.5K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  PlantedRich  
T
#1 ·
So I called a certain (not naming it because that is not the point of this post and I am not allowed to give a review if I wanted to) petstore asking if they had any Kribensis cichlids in stock. I got the women who works in the aquatics department on the phone and she said they don't have them in stock. She then starts to list off a bunch of other cichlids they have in stock. She then starts listing off all they South American cichlids they have in stock (nothing special). She then goes on to say that those are the North American ones (she then corrected herself but then doubted herself on where they were from) and then she then said that the ones she listed are only the pure freshwater ones. But she does have South African cichlids but those are brackish and they have a whole brackish set up for them. I assume rift lake cichlids since she hadn't listed those yet and I don't even know if South African Cichlids exist. Even if they do exist, the store would not have them so she probably meant the common Africans. I then correct her, she was stuttering a lot on where they were from, and tell her that african cichlids don't live in brackish water (though apparently kribs have been found in slightly brackish water but she didn't have those, as if she did we wouldn't be having this conversation) and I only knew of three actual brackish water cichlids, the Indian ones. She then replied that oh yes. They are brackish and we have a whole brackish set up. She said that she just has the "pure freshwater ones," South Americans and the "brackish South African ones". So I decide I'm not going to argue with her and I say thank you very much but I'm good and then hang up. So I have a couple of questions to you. First, do South African cichlids exist and are they brackish? Second, since she probably meant she was keeping rift lake cichlids in brackish water, is that even possible and should she be doing that? She may have also meant she was adding aquarium salt but she was pretty insistent that they were brackish.

Thank you for reading. I am now really glad I didn't get my kribs from there. I wonder if they would be in the brackish system or the freshwater one.
 
#2 ·
She has little understanding of even her own systems, it is likely a very hard high pH system with a little aquarium salt, very far from brackish, all I really have is brackish tanks and can tell you there are very few cichlids that will even tolerate slightly brackish water.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
 
#4 ·
The only part of that that sounds half right is kind of true by default. Since cichlids do come from nearly everywhere, there are likely to be some South African cichlids. Kind of stretching but it could also be said that there are South New York cichlids. Just don't expect them to be sold very many places!!!
Too many LFS don't hire for knowledge as much as cheap. Then they leave the poor totally bewildered person in charge.
 
#5 ·
The LFS person might be referring to Orange Chromides, Which IIRC can live in brackish water, I think Green Chromides another species are the similar in brakish water requirements. But they're both from the Indian Sub-Continent, not South American. Chromides are lovely fish BTW.
 
D
#6 ·
Pet store lady is all mixed up.

You go see what species they are, take pics and we may help ID them.

Ask another person what the water parameters are. (GH, KH, pH, TDS, salt level)

Per Fishbase.org
Fish in the family Cichlidae, found in South Africa:
Chetia (2 sp), fresh water.
There is a list 42 pages long, I only went through about half of it.
 
T
#7 ·
So I didn't actually believe what she was saying. I was on the phone for a bit with her trying to figure out what she actually meant. Seems like judging by the first reply she meant she was keeping them in water high in other minerals (maybe cichlids salts). It's not very easy for me to get to this store which is why I called her, to make sure if it was even worth going there. I think I should probably assume that she meant cichlid salts but the fact that she didn't even know her own systems was discomforting, especially since this petstore has a bit of a good reputation. Thanks for the info on South African cichlids. Maybe I'll keep them some day.
 
D
#8 ·
I have no idea if they are even available in the trade. They are just on a list of fish native to South Africa.

I would also think of Cichlids in just a few groups:
SA = soft water fish. Amazon, Orinoco and other river systems. Dwarfs and larger fish.
CA = neutral water fish. Generally fairly large.
NA = neutral water fish. Generally fairly large.
Africa, Rift Lakes = Hard water fish, no salt (sodium chloride) in the lakes. All sizes.
Africa, not Rift Lakes = Soft water fish. Congo and other rivers. Kribs. Others?
Asia = Brackish water Orange Chromide (small) and Green Chromide (large)
Tilapia- food.
 
#9 ·
The LPS lady is confused but then there is reason for a defense on her part. When we speak of cichlids we are really talking about a really big subject and one that is just really being studied. So some confusion can be excused?
Just for interest for those who might want to read some more about cichlids and from a pretty reliable source, this is an item of interest to me. By gene tracking, they are beginning to work out how a few of the African rift lake cichlids have evolved. Pretty deep but interesting for the insight?


The genomic substrate for adaptive radiation in African cichlid fish : Nature : Nature Publishing Group
 
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