1. Why are there no sponsors or advertisements on your blog?
The simple answer is because I don’t want any. The blog’s purpose isn’t to make money and, since I don’t benefit financially in any way from anything found on the site, I’m not beholden to anyone for the site’s contents. In fact, the website isn’t even monetized. Furthermore, I don’t want ads and other extraneous links cluttering up the site. I want the site to be simple, clean, and ad-free.
2. What is the purpose of your blog?
See the About this blog link in the navigation menu above.
3. What is the post frequency of your blog?
I don’t have a set frequency. However, I try to post every three or four days.
4. How do you conduct the interviews that you post?
Great question! All of the interviews I’ve done have been via e-mail except for two. I email the questions and the interviewees return the answers. Of the two not done via e-mail, one was done via Skype in which the interview was recorded and transcribed, the other was a recording the interviewee made of himself answering the questions. It was also transcribed. I’m not going to tell you which two they are, but I’ll let you guess. If you want to guess, send me a note via my contact page. If you’re correct, I’ll send you a blog t-shirt for free.
5. Do you respond to messages when contacted?
Absolutely, as long as your message isn’t inflammatory, antagonistic, or otherwise irrelevant to the blog. If you can be civil, by all means contact me. I love to meet and communicate with fellow cichlidophiles!
6. I commented on a post but it’s not showing up. What happened?
Since all comments are moderated, the most likely scenario is that your comment was ignored because it was inappropriate or got caught by my spam filter. This is a friendly site, and the criteria listed in question #5 above equally apply to post comments. If you violate the criteria, your comment will probably just get deleted.
Disagreement and debate about posts are more than welcome and, in fact, appreciated. However, engaging in either of those can and should be done in a civil manner. If you submitted a comment, you don’t believe it violated the rules, and it doesn’t appear soon after you submit it, please send me a note via the contact form so I can make sure something hasn’t happened with the site.
7. Do you accept suggestions for posts and interviews?
Of course. I love to get feedback, suggestions, questions, etc.
8. Can I share information that I find on your site with others?
Sure, and I encourage you to do so, as long as you provide the appropriate attribution. See the copyright section on the About this blog page linked in the navigation above. Also, see my post about information sharing.
9. Do you have a Facebook page?
Yes, but not tied to the blog. I would love to have one associated with the blog, but I just don’t have time to maintain this site and a Facebook page to go with it.
10. Do you have an X (formerly Twitter) account?
Yes, both a personal one and one for the site. See The Cichlid Stage on X. Sadly, I am not nearly as prolific on X as I am here. In fact, I post very little on X.
11. Why does your blog have so little information about Central and South American cichlids?
The short answer is because I generally don’t keep them, thus my experience with those genera is more limited. I mostly keep African Rift Lake cichlids – from Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika. I do keep Amatitlania nanolutea (a small CA cichlid), but that’s it on the New World side. Nonetheless, I do have multiple posts that include information about CA and SA cichlids, including some interviews. The site search tool works pretty well, so I recommend you use it to look for those posts.
12. How long have you been keeping cichlids?
Hmmmm. That is a really good question. Sadly, I don’t recall when I bought my first cichlid. I do know it was in the 1990s, so that makes more than 25 years. I could probably go back through my copious notes and provide a precise date but I’m too lazy to do that. We’ll go with 25+ years.
13. What is your favorite genus or species?
Wow, another great question. I’m quite partial to lamprologines, but if I had to pick one, I would go with any of the species in the Julidochromis (julies) genus. I love shellies of the ‘Lamprologus’ genus, but julies hold a special place for me. I have bred nearly every one of them and simply find them fascinating!
14. Why do you tend to focus on small or dwarf cichlid species?
Three reasons: 1) My current interests focus exclusively on smaller species, so I only keep smaller cichlids, or those widely considered dwarf species. 2) Someday I may get interested in larger species, but I mainly don’t keep them because I don’t really have the space. Large species require large tanks. 3) There is also the expense. Large species require more expensive supplies, as a rule – larger heaters, larger tanks, larger filters, more water, etc. I could keep a couple of really large tanks but that would be about it. Since my species interests are broad and I breed many that I keep, I prefer to keep multiple tanks, so by necessity they need to stay small.
15. Most of your tanks aren’t visually appealing. Why?
I agree. The reason is that I put functionality over aesthetics. The goal with most of my tanks is have successful spawns while limiting the maintenance effort. Like many fish breeders, I have mostly bare bottom tanks, which makes maintenance exponentially easier. Unlike many fish breeders, I don’t sell my fish. Instead, I trade them at my LFS for supplies.
16. What types and brands of equipment do you use?
This is a tough one because the only two brands that I’m particularly partial to are Sicce and Fluval (Hagen). I use Sicce canister filters and pumps because, frankly, I think they’re well-made and they just work. I also use Fluval HOBs and heaters for the same reasons. I have posted several times about my equipment, my set-ups, etc. If you really want the details, probably best to use the site search tool at the top and you’ll find my posts about all that. Every once in a while, I’ll give an update on some of the products and equipment I’m using.
17. Where do you get your fish from?
Great question! I actually source my fish from various online sellers as well as my local fish store (LFS). I compiled and posted a listing of online cichlid retailers in January 2019, which is semi-regularly updated. I don’t source my fish from all of the sites listed there but I have from several of them. If you want to know the specific vendors I recommend, send me a note via the contact form. There are some that I’ve used that I wouldn’t use again for a variety of reasons.
If you’re a cichlid seller, have an online retail address, and you’re not listed, send me a note and I’ll add you to that post. I do update it when I learn of a new vendor. On rare occasions, I get livestock directly from importers, but that’s usually only when I’m having trouble finding a vendor.
18. Do you breed any species?
Sure, sometimes. When I do depends on several factors: 1) species I currently have, 2) species I don’t have but I want, 3) the needs of my LFS, and 4) species I can somehow convince to spawn.
19. Why not have a YouTube channel, a video blog, or a podcast instead?
Another fantastic question! There are four primary reasons. 1) I’m old school, which means I gravitate more toward reading and writing, 2) Reading is fundamentally important, and I think everyone should do a lot of it, 3) It’s much quicker to write a post than it is to produce a high quality audio or video demonstrating/showing/explaining something, so it’s a time thing, 4) Since I don’t do this to make money, the return on investment (ROI) for me is already low and would be much lower if I produced videos, podcasts, etc. (see #3 above in this question).
20. What separates your blog from other blogs focused on cichlids and cichlid keeping?
Another great question and probably one best for the readers to answer. Though I don’t routinely read cichlid blogs, my general conclusions are, in no specific order, 1) there aren’t very many of them, 2) many are no longer active, 3) for those still active, the post frequency is low, 4) mine has no sponsors and/or advertisements, and 5) others don’t offer the same range/variety of content.
21. I would like to advertise on your site. How can I reach you other than filling out the contact form?
Don’t bother. In fact, you must have missed Q1 above in this FAQ. The site doesn’t accept advertisements. Read my About this blog page for more information on that.
22. Do you accept guest posts?
The short answer is no. The site is not accepting guest posts at this time.
23. Do you do product reviews?
Sure, every once in a while. Most of the time the reviews are a result of a vendor or manufacturer gifting me a product in exchange for a review. In those instances, I make it abundantly clear that I will be 100% candid about my opinion of the product. The manufacturer/vendor needs to know that, just because they give me something for free, they shouldn’t expect favoritism. However, I won’t use my platform to overtly and harshly criticize a product. If I think the product is terrible and would never recommend using it, I simply won’t post a review. This doesn’t mean I won’t say something negative about it, just that there is no value in thoroughly trashing a product on my site.
What I also won’t do is use the blog platform to post negative information or comments about a vendor or a person.
24. Do you use AI to assist you with your site?
Absolutely not! AI has its place, just not on my site. All the content you read here is written by me, except where I quote something or someone. Also, it is possible that answers to the interview questions were aided by AI. I have no idea if interviewees use AI to help them answer the questions.