Introduction -

So, you're interested in setting up an aquarium for African Rift Lake Cichlids and their relatives. Well, where do you begin? The first thing we need to look at are the conditions all these Cichlids require in order to thrive, not just survive.

Before jumping in, a word to the reader. This "handbook" is not the end all, tell all. It is meant as a starting point. It deals in generalizations. By no means are we telling you "This is the only way", or that all the information is entirely accurate in every instance. We would not recommend that you set up a "Rift Lake" aquarium using just the information presented here, but that you use this as a quick reference, and as a way to find out if this is right for you. Get yourself a good book, there are many out there (try to get a recently published book, as the names of many Cichlids have undergone revision in recent years, and dealing with an old book makes it very confusing when purchasing Cichlids). For the sake of readability, we will refer to the African Rift Lake Cichlids and Victorian Cichlids simply as African Cichlids. We are not referring to all Cichlids from Africa, simply the aforementioned.