Cichlids

by Paul , Thursday, June 05, 2025, 15:57 (23 hours, 14 minutes ago) @ AaronB

It's hard to know what all native fish might have inhabited waters around here. The Good Lord knows I don´t get many opportunities for exploration outside of the urban setting. But cichlids of diverse species are common throughout south America. I grew up catching cará, very similar to a bluegill. And of course there's the oscar, a common enough aquarium fish - but found wild in rivers down in the plains area. The pacú is basically a piranha with blunt teeth. Mostly an eater of vegetable matter, but had one I tossed into our aquarium years ago eat our beta. The pay per kilo fish ponds I mentioned in the post Ray linked are usually stocked with tilapia and pacú, but usually have some of the native cichlids around, as evidenced by the ones mentioned in the linked post. I'm very curious about what USED to be around here, but the rivers are sewers now and there are no public lakes with native fish that I'm aware of. Was just mentioning to my wife the other day how much I miss a good, clean river and a nice place to cast a line.