"I like em long..." kinky! Wide tankz are a must with most of the fish kept here though!
There are several reasons why I personally don't like Africans.
1. Cuz they are takin over the Pet Stores. I've seen more and more LFS being more dominated by African cichlids than SA/CA cichlids. Its very frustrating...and it makes me bitter towards them. The main reasons they are dominating the LFS's is that they are generally pretty from the start and easy to get. This makes them more appealin. SA/CA cichlids generally start out drab and get better lookin as they get older, but not many people know this, so they are turned off by them cuz they think they are ugly. I think there are MANY SA/CA cichlids that easily rival/surpass even some SALT WATER fish.
2. Their personalities suck, seriously, Africans hold no interest from me, aside from thinkin they are pretty. I get bored watchin them quickly. They just don't have the dynamics and personalities of SA/CA cichlids. This seriously puts a dampener on them. 90% of my SA cichlids (i only have SA...hehe...
) are personable and will eat from my fingers.
3. They are soo common. Every where you go you see Africans, of all sorts. Its like there are no rare ones, or uncommonly kept ones. Thats one of the most appealing things to me about SA/CA cichlids is that most of them are still rare or uncommon. Not many people keep pike cichlids for instance, and fewer still keep the rare ones. So they are special, and unique.
Africans are aight in their own way, just would be a lot happier if more stores would revert back to sellin more SA/CA cichlids......