Centrarchids vs. Cichlids: What do you think?

I've often thought of sunfish and kin as "our version" of cichlids. For people who have kept both, what do you think? Do you see comparable behavior, temperament, and intelligence in the two families? What are the differences? Just thought this would be an interesting discussion.

What is a Cichlid?

Cichlid's are these little mints that you can buy in a pack, i have no idea what they have to do about aquraium fish though

Cichlid's are these little mints that you can buy in a pack, i have no idea what they have to do about aquraium fish though

That is what I was thinking!

That is what I was thinking!

You youngsters. Everybody knows that Cichlids are a gum that you can get two pieces for 1 penny out of a dispenser.

Chicklids, ya, those are what the bank used to give me at the drive up when I was a wee lad.

Seriously. That could be said. Sunfish are superior in waters that get cool/cold part of the year. Unfortunatly as seen in Florida mostly, the same cannot be said for sunfish versus cichlids in warm water. I have kept both fish together, and in fact have one chickolet sharing a tank with some sunnies. They usually conform and people who don't know fish have no Idea that these fish are worlds apart by how they interact in my tanks.

The longer I have spent time with sunfish close and personal, the more I see they have just as many unique and interesting behaviors as their similar percoid kin. Here is one for you: A male green sunfish on a nest in my pond. He is trying his darndest to court a female onto it. She is not taking the bait, apparently not happy with its location. She nudges him deeper and deeper, then begins to circle him ( reverse roles here) and he quickly fans out a nest in anticipation. He was rewarded with a spawn. After that she left him to care for their brood.

I would have to agree that there are similar behaviors. My wife likes the chichlids and has a tank in her class room with some africans and I have some of her old fish in my tanks, a Kribensis and a convict. The krib gets along fine with my bluespots and the convict is in with some longears a warmouth and a couple of greens. I think that if you could get more chichlid people to try out sunfish they would start to show up more at fish shows and maybe even petstores (they ocasionally do but it is rare). I think they just show so many similar behaviors that it is prety amazing that they are very different families.

I may have to be the dissenting voice here. I don't really think that centrarchids and cichlids are all that alike at all, and I am not sure the sunnies got the better end of it.

The fascinating thing about cichlids is their diversity. A smaller brackish water fish from India, an array of brightly colored and highly variably shaped fish from Africa, a perfectly round fish from SA, and a huge brute of a fish in CA. These are all examples of cichlids. It is difficult for me to fathom, sometime, how variable these fish are in form and function. When you add in the astounding parental care that most exhibit, it makes them all the more compelling.

Don't get me wrong, I still keep native sunnies, but cichlids will also always have a spot in my fish room. And don't forget "Cichlasoma" cyanoguttatum which is the best of both worlds.....

I am a big fan of both cichlids and sunfish. They behave very much alike, at least in aquaria and their care requirements (at least with some) are virtually the same. They aren't closely related, though I notice a lot of people think they are but they occupy similer roles in their ecosystems so they evolved to be very much alike. Kinda like old world and new world vultures. Not related but very much alike. Cichlids are without a doubt one of the most successful families of freshwater fish. Cichlids, some 2000 species spread over four continents. Sunfishes, 31 species spread over one continent, most of them from the East coast. I rest my case. With that said, I have no idea how old either family is so maybe sunfish are just a lot younger. I cannot really say I like one more than the other but sunfish being unique to NA, and often ignored my aquarists gives them a slight upper hand in my book I guess.

Keep in mind guys, Central America is part of North America, making cichlids NA natives.

Keep in mind guys, Central America is part of North America, making cichlids NA natives.

There are Cichlets native to Mexico and for that matter Southern Texas. ( "Cichlasoma" cyanoguttatum )
Me personally, I do not care much for chichlids and never really have, so I can not really compare them.

There are Cichlets native to Mexico and for that matter Southern Texas. ( "Cichlasoma" cyanoguttatum )
Me personally, I do not care much for chichlids and never really have, so I can not really compare them.

Yeah, I know about the Texas cichlid.
Why not like cichlids? I mean, I can understand it in that they are invasive in Florida and such but other than that, I'm just curious, why? Over 2000 species and you dislike the entire family? They are very interesting fish, and very popular with behavior and evolutionary studies.

It is fun to pick on cichlids, because they have all those things that dsmith73 mentions going for them. Kind of a jealousy thing, and at the same time the things in my backyard are better kind of ego thing- rooting for the home team.

If you want to throw another group of similar fish in the mix, the saltwater groupers and damselfish.

My reason for preferring sunfish is simple. I started out keeping fish to learn how to catch them better. I wanted to learn how they acted and reacted to things with my own eyes. That was the reason for sunfish anyways, but baby bowfins are sooooooooooooooooo cute , which really started my keeping fish. When really young I loved dinosaurs, and with bowfin I could have my cake and eat it too. A pet dino!

I started keeping cichlids after seeing them in petshops ,well after I was into the sunfish. I tried several species, but keep coming back to trying the next sunfish. Luckily I can try every sunfish species in this lifetime. Doing that with cichlids would be nearly impossible, since I am a compulsive type this suits me too.

At the same time I like cichlids, because they remind me so much of sunfish. Much the same reason I like (gasp) snakeheads and polypterus because they remind me of my favorite fish the bowfin. I also like Rivulus best of the non-native killifish because they remind me of bowfin.

With those links, it kind of wraps up the bowfin types with the killis onto the gars, pikes, and mudminnows. Luckily I controlled myself before I set up some salt tanks for damselfish and groupers.

Yeah, I know about the Texas cichlid.
Why not like cichlids? I mean, I can understand it in that they are invasive in Florida and such but other than that, I'm just curious, why? Over 2000 species and you dislike the entire family? They are very interesting fish, and very popular with behavior and evolutionary studies.

Asking me this is akin to openning the proverbial "pandora's box".

I really just have absolutly no interest in these fish and really do not care much about how many of them there are or of what use they are. To me they are quite boring. I'd personally rather spend a lifetime keeping and studying just the seven species of gar or the six or so species of Elassoma than waste an ounce of time on cichlids.

This is however my opinion on them......If you like them... well.....Good for you.
Enjoy them all you want

I started keeping cichlids after seeing them in petshops ,well after I was into the sunfish. I tried several species, but keep coming back to trying the next sunfish. Luckily I can try every sunfish species in this lifetime. Doing that with cichlids would be nearly impossible, since I am a compulsive type this suits me too.

Its the same for me. Sunfish have a nostalgia to them. They remind me of fishing in the summer, growing up, wading through the creeks in my backyard etc. I love being able to watch my sunfish (and other natives) in the middle of winter and having my mind drift into summer mode. Also, collecting fish is so much more fun than going out and buying one at the LFS and I cannot catch cichlids in NY. I would also like to try my hand at every sunfish species, my personal fishkeeping life goal. Right now I have six, have had experiance with 7. I do still buy cichlids though. They are a lot like sunfish but still different enough to warrent me having both.