You may be wondering what significance how all this scientific mumbo jumbo could influence the average aquarist.
First off I go to the charts of species density, and diversity.
And notice that northern south America and the Amazon region is the most species diverse.
This may suggest that if a community tank of many types of fish is desired, this would be the place that offers the best combinations.
And as a cichlid keeper, this may suggest the cichlids of this region, may be more tolerant of each other, in such a tank
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Some of the places with the least diversity are the areas west of the Andes, and southern S America (in dark blue) that have the least number of species.
As a cichlid keeper this suggests the cichlids of this area may be least fitting for a community tank, and least accepting of other cichlids in the same tank.
There are possibly, only two genera from west of the Andes (Andinoacara, and Mesoheros), with a smattering of others further north.
To me this may suggest combining either of the cichlids from this western genus with cichlids from east of the Andes may be problematic, even beyond the difference in water types.
The other dark blue region is in areas of Uruguay and Argentina where the cooler climate may have an effect on what type of fishes have evolved to live in the area, and that combining fish from this region, with more northerly species, could also be problematic.