Links to
Related Web Sites

1. Cichlid E-mail Lists, Forums, Newsgroups, Internet Radio Shows

• CICHLID-L Cichlid Systematics Discussion List Archives  
• The Cichlids list below is hosted by JAWS. It is for any discussion on cichlids. Fill in your email address and click on the button to subscribe.
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• The Cichlid Room Companion Forums (active forums on topics from beginner to advanced, general interest to geographic areas)
• The Cichlid Forums ("Discussion board for both the New World and African cichlid aquarist")
• NYCichlidForums.com ("A meeting place for fish enthusiasts" with forums on African and other cichlids)

2. Systematics, Nomenclature, and Literature Searching

A. Online catalogs of museum fish collections

• Search Fish Collections page at FishBase (some 40 collections searchable by scientific name, register number, field number...)  
• American Museum of Natural History (New York) - Fish collection search
• Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts) - Fish collection search
• The Natural History Museum (BMNH, London) - Collections Data Locator
• US National Museum of Natural History's Fish Collection - Online Search
• Yale University Peabody Museum of Natural History (New Haven, Connecticut) - Fish collection search

B. Other resources

• A. Spreinat's list of Lake Malawi cichlids (as of 1995; includes cheironyms and geographic variants)
• American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
• Copeia abstracts online (journal of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists)
• Electronic Journal of Ichthyology ("The bulletin of the European Ichthyological Society")
• Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters - Contents
• International Code of Zoological Nomenclature Online (full text of the current fourth edition)
• Nomenclator Zoologicus (searchable index of all genus/subgenus names in zoology through 2004)
• uBio (Universal Biological Indexer and Organizer)
• Catalog of Fishes (William N. Eschmeyer, ed.) - online search link at bottom of page
• FishBase - Outstanding resource for locating taxonomic, ecological, geographic, and other information about all fishes
• Cichlid Genome Consortium at University of Maryland
• Biodiversity Heritage Library - Online repository of voluminous historic taxonomy & biodiversity literature  
• Naturalis - Online repository of Dutch taxonomic literature (much of it in English, much on L. Victoria cichlids)  
• WikiSpecies - "The free species directory that anyone can edit" - good coverage of cichlid taxonomy  
• ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System) Cichlidae list (extremely incomplete and inaccurate, but promising, world taxonomic list)
• Scientific publications of the American Museum of Natural History (free PDFs of all works)
• The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online (full text of all works, field notebooks, images, bibliography, and more)
• Understanding Evolution - "Your one-stop source for information on evolution" (Univ. Calif. Berkeley Museum of Paleontology)
• Evolution resources at US National Academy of Sciences
• Evolution links at the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science - Excellent resource for understanding evolution, free online book at US National Academy of Sciences Web site
• OLogy   (Ultra-cool natural history exploration site for kids, by the American Museum of Natural History)
• Five Major Misconceptions about Evolution - Common misunderstandings about evolution by creationists, with links to a rebuttal by a creationist, and a rebuttal of him
• Phylogenetic systematics, a.k.a. evolutionary trees at University of California, Berkeley
• Willi Hennig Society (Cladistics/phylogenetics headquarters)
• BioExplorer (a selective directory of bioscience links)
• PubMed (free MedLine literature searching at U.S. National Library of Medicine - good for cichlid research with a biochemical or molecular phylogenetic orientation)
• BioMedSearch (free searching of all PubMed/MedLine publications, additional journals, and a collection of theses and dissertations that are not in the PubMed database)
• FAO Document Repository - Searchable file of FAO documents available online
• African Journals Online - "Promoting access to African research"
• World Taxonomist Database (by ETI, the Expert Center for Taxonomic Identification, a Dutch not-for-profit foundation, dedicated to improving globally the quantity, quality, and accessibility of taxonomic information)
• IUCN Red List of Threatened Species - Taxon search

3. Researchers on the Cichlids of Lake Malawi and Other African Great Lakes

• Dr. R. Craig Albertson (Syracuse University)  
• Dr. Edward Allison (University of East Anglia)
• Dr. Matthew Arnegard (University of British Columbia - Vancouver and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)  
• Dr. Nancy Bowers (Idaho State University)
• Dr. Karen Carleton (University of Maryland)
• Dr. Vanessa Couldridge (University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa)
• Dr. Patrick Danley (Baylor University)  
• Dr. Martin J. Genner (University of Bristol & Marine Biological Association of the UK)
• Dr. Jody Hey (Rutgers University)
• Dr. Rebecca C. Jordan (Rutgers University)
• Michael Kidd (Ph.D. student at University of New Hampshire)
• Dr. Thomas Kocher (University of Maryland)     Early photo of Dr. Kocher
• Dr. Irv Kornfield (University of Maine at Orono)
• Dr. Jeffrey A. Markert (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
• Dr. Doug McElroy (Western Kentucky University)
• Dr. Axel Meyer (University of Konstanz; primarily L. Victoria)
• Alex Parker (Ph.D. student at University of Maine at Orono)
• Dr. Peter N. Reinthal (University of Arizona at Tucson)
• Dr. Ole Seehausen (University of Bern, Switzerland)  
• Dr. Paul Shaw (Royal Holloway, University of London)
• Peter F. Smith (Ph.D. student at University of Maine at Orono)
• Dr. Jos Snoeks (Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium)
• Dr. Jay R. Stauffer, Jr. (Pennsylvania State University)
• Dr. Melanie L. J. Stiassny (American Museum of Natural History; L. Malawi not a current research focus)
• Dr. J. Todd Streelman (Georgia Tech)  
• Dr. Christian Sturmbauer (University of Graz, Austria)  
• Dr. George F. Turner (Bangor University, U.K.)  
• Dr. Olaf Weyl (South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Grahamstown, South Africa; L. Malawi not a current research focus)  

4. Other Cichlid Sites of Aquaristic or Scientific Interest (in 6 clusters)

• Aquamaniacs.net ("an online community dedicated to the art of fishkeeping")  
• Aquaria FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions)
• Cichlid-Forum.com (cichlid articles, photos, chat, and more)
• Conditioning Wild Caught Cichlids (Francesco Zezza at Malawi Cichlid Homepage)
• Converter for Hardness units at Master Index of Freshwater Fishes (also linear, volume, & temperature converters)
• Maintaining and Breeding in a Typical Mbuna Fashion (article by Pam Chin at Cichlid Room Companion)  
• Malawi Cichlid Homepage's Information Index (A shortcut to locating the many helpful articles at this outstanding site, on such topics as the nitrogen cycle, diseases, medications, water chemistry, and "stripping" females)
• Male or Female? (Gary Kratochvil) - determining a cichlid's sex by examing the vent
• Peacocks and Haps for Sale (AquariumFish.net) - Actually, this is a helpful article by Tom & Nevin Bailey about how to house, feed, maintain, breed, and raise these fishes
• Raising the fry - Points to consider (George Reclos at Malawi Cichlid Homepage)
• Species selection criteria - how to choose Malawi cichlids wisely (Another excellent article at Malawi Cichlid Homepage)
• Starting Out with Lake Malawi Cichlids (Anthony Olszewski)

• Cichlid Research Home Page (Dr. Ron Coleman) - Much excellent information including an expanded introduction to cichlids
• The Cichlid Room Companion (Juan Miguel Artigas Azas) - One of the great standard, must-see cichlid sites, stuffed full of good information and photos
• Guide to South American Cichlidae (Dr. Sven O. Kullander) - The authoritative source on the taxonomy of the New World sister group to our beloved African clade

• afrikaisuger.lap.hu (Farkasházy Benedek) - "The sole link centre in Hungarian for African cichlid lovers"; Malawi & Tanganyika cichlids
• The Cichlid Gallery (Fredrik Hagblom) - Well-designed English-language site by a Swedish aquarist, with photos of Malawi, Tanganyika, & Victoria cichlids
• Cichlid Power (Italian language site about Lake Malawi)
• Cichlids.dk - large Danish language site
• Cichlids.hu (Bene Zoltán) - Attractive Hungarian site about Rift Lake cichlids
• Duboisi.com (Kevin Bogs) - Forum, photos, and information on Lake Tanganyika fishes
• Larry Johnson's Lake Malawi Cichlid Page - Underwater photos by this Canadian aquarist who annually visits Lake Malawi  
• Malawi Cichlid Center (Pierre Veronneau - French site: "Ce site est dédié à l'aquariophilie et aux cichlidés du lac Malawi, en particulier aux m'bunas")
• Malawi Cichlid Homepage - This large site is an intriguing collaboration between George Reclos, Ph.D. (Holargos, Greece), Patrizia Spinelli (Tuscany, Italy), Francesco Zezza (Rome, Italy), and Frank Panis (Belgium)
• Malawi Cichlids (Micha Berlijn - a Dutch site [in English] that shows lots of promise)
• Malawijan.dk (Jan Andresen) - New Danish language site
• malawi.org.pl - excellent Polish site
• Malawipoint.com - German language site
• Malawi Verslaving ("Malawi Addiction") (Walter Deproost of Belgium) - This nice site is in Dutch, but has many interesting photos of the lake, the people, and collecting fish, as well as some species pages with photos. Well worth a visit!
• My Exotic Blue Aquarium (Hisao Masui) - lots of good photos of Malawi and Tanganyika cichlids at this Tokyo hobbyist's site
• OnzeMalawiCichliden.eu ("Our Malawi Cichlids") - Father-and-son Dutch site, also available in English  
• The Sydney Cichlid Page (David Midgley & Nikki Sawyer; requires Internet Explorer) - Australia
• www.cichlidae.ch (Michi Tobler & Thomas Schmid) - A Swiss site

• Frontosa.eu (Harry Veenstra) - European site all about Cyphotilapia frontosa, with some information about the lake itself
• Tanganyika Cichlids (Eric Genevelle's excellent French language site)  
• Cichlidés Passion: Les cichlidés du lac Tanganyika (Christophe Giraud)
• Duboisi.com (Kevin Bogs) - Information and unsorted photo galleries on Lake Tanganyika and Malawi fishes
• The Featherfin Pages (Photos of several genera and species in the anonymous author's tanks)
• Lake Tanganyika (Japanese site in English about the lake itself, at World Lakes Database)
• Lake Tanganyika Fisheries Research (Eric Coenen) - good links to scientific sites
• Tropheus Basics (links to articles by Jessica Miller)

• Haplochromis.org - Olivier Berthelot's French language site (with some English) with good graphics and helpful information

• AquaNet (Lutz Döring)
• FishLinkCentral ("Your guide to aquarium resources on the Internet")
• World of Fishes (Erwin Schraml) - an online magazine

5. Conservation and Studies of the African Great Lakes

• African Lakes and Rivers Research Group - University of Waterloo, Ontario  
• The African Water Page - Devoted to water policy and politics
• Cichlid Conservation in Uganda - article by Lee Newman at Cichlid Room Companion
• CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna & Flora
• Lake Victoria cichlid research page - Dr. Paul Fuerst, Ohio State Univ.
• Endangered! Cichlids of Lake Victoria - including some photos by Paul Loiselle (an American Museum of Natural History page)
• Environmental Aspects of the African Great Lakes Region (north of L. Malawi)
• Evolution of Cichlid Fishes in Lake Malawi, using Microsatellites - Pierre Bouteillon (site includes some underwater photos and a brief introduction to his research; also available in French)
• IDEAL: International Decade for the East African Lakes (Univ. of Minnesota)
• IDEAL Bulletin Archive   - Brief technical limnological abstracts in Acrobat form, often relating to Lakes Victoria, Malawi, or Tanganyika (e.g., see Spring '97 issue for "A discussion about Lake Victoria findings" - a discussion of evidence that Lake Victoria was completely dry some 14,500 years ago)
• IUCN Red List - current world-wide list of threatened species
• Lake Malawi National Park - more detailed description by IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature)
• Lake Malawi National Park - brief page at UNESCO, with linked documents  
• Malawi Government's National Environmental Action Plan - Chapter 4: Environmental Issues - see especially section 4.3.4: Threats to fish resources
• PLEA: Program on the Lakes of East Africa (Michigan State Univ.)  
• Preserving the Future of Lake Malawi - article by Joshua Nyambose (African Technology Forum)
• Safeguarding Biodiversity in Lake Malawi - 1998 news release from Univ. of Waterloo, Ontario
• TED Case Studies: Lake Victoria - Extensive description of the history of the ecological problems in Lake Victoria, at the Mandala Projects site
• Wildlife Action Group - Malawi
• Workshop on Scientific Drilling on Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika, October 10-16, 1999 - This executive summary includes a section, halfway down the long text page, on "Evolution of biodiversity and ecology in ancient lakes: Biological objectives of deep drilling in Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika"

6. Societies Specializing in Cichlids

• American Cichlid Association
• Capital Cichlid Association - Washington, D.C./Baltimore, Maryland
• Greater Chicago Cichlid Association
• Hill Country Cichlid Club - San Antonio, TX  
• Michigan Cichlid Association - Warren, MI (Detroit area)  
• Mid-Atlantic Cichlid Keepers - Springfield, PA (Philadelphia area)  
• Ohio Cichlid Association - Middleburg Heights
• Pacific Coast Cichlid Association - San Jose, California
• South American Cichlid Study Group  
• Texas Cichlid Association

• Associaçäo Portuguesa de Ciclídeos
• Association France Cichlid
• Associazione Italiana Ciclidofili
• Belgian Cichlid Association (ABCV) / Belgische Cichlidenliefhebbers Vereniging (in Dutch, French, and English)
• British Cichlid Association
• Deutsche Cichliden-Gesellschaft
• Deutsche Cichliden-Gesellschaft Region Österreich  
• Deutsche Cichliden-Gesellschaft e.V., Region Niederrhein - Duisburg, Germany
• El Grupo Mexicano de Ciclidófilos (en Español & in English)
• Nederlandse Vereniging van Cichlidenliefhebbers (Dutch Cichlid Association) - Netherlands
• The New South Wales Cichlid Society, Inc. - Illawarra Branch - Australia  
• Nordiska Ciklidsällskapet - a Scandinavian society
• Perth Cichlid Society Inc. - Perth, Western Australia  
• Queensland Cichlid Group Inc. - Clayfield, Qld. - Australia
• Victorian Cichlid Society Inc. - Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia  

7. Africa and its Weather & Geology from Earth & Space

• Spectacular high-resolution relief map of Africa from satellite imagery (available in several resolutions)  
• GEOnet Names Server (searchable gazetteer of world place names)
• Current African satellite weather image at Yahoo!
• Today's Africa Outlook (current weather map with forecast symbols for major cities)
• World Viewer: Current African weather map, centered on Malawi
• World Viewer: Current daylight over Malawi
• Global weather montage centered on Africa (updated every 6 hours)
• NASA Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth
• NASA-JSC Imagery Services
• Earth from Space - "An Astronaut's Views of the Home Planet"
• Lacustrine Rift Basin Research Program (Dr. Christopher Scholz at Univ. of Miami) - beautiful seismic images, contour maps, and models of L. Malawi

8. Countries bordering L. Malawi / L. Nyasa

• Africa Web Links by subject at University of Pennsylvania

Malawi

Mozambique      Tanzania

• Malawi Page at University of Pennsylvania
• Malawi News at AllAfrica.com
• Malawi-Related Links at Stanford University Libraries
• Malawi weather at Weather Underground
• Current local time in Malawi

Mozambique

Malawi      Tanzania

• Official Mozambique Home Page
• Mozambique Page at University of Pennsylvania
• Mozambique News at AllAfrica.com
• Mozambique weather at Weather Underground
• Current local time in Mozambique

Tanzania

Malawi      Mozambique

• Tanzania Page at University of Pennsylvania
• Tanzania News at AllAfrica.com
• Tanzania weather at Weather Underground
• Current local time in Tanzania

9. Travel to the Lake Malawi region

• The Africa Guide - Malawi ("A complete and comprehensive guide to all of Malawi and other countries in Africa. Travelers' information, forums, books and maps, accommodation, safaris, photographs, and much more")
• Aquanuts Dive School (Kande, Nkhata Bay District, northern Malawi)
• Friends of Malawi (a nonprofit group of returned Peace Corps volunteers and others)
• Healthy Travel Tips
• Kayak Africa - Island hopping adventure on Lake Malawi (tours by a South African travel agency)
• Lake Malawi - Red Zebra Tours   (Lake tours designed for cichlidophiles/general naturalists/divers with emphasis on boat travel along selected areas of the Lake Malawi coastline with the ambience/backdrop of ornamental fish exporting operations)
• Malawi Travel Guide  
• Malawi, the Warm Heart of Africa (nice armchair travelogue by Fukula Nyekanyeka)
• Manda Wilderness (small eco-tourist lodge near Cobue, Mozambique in an unspoiled lakeside area; "amazing goggling on the doorstep")
• Scuba Shack Malawi (PADI dive center at Cape Maclear)
• Travel Health Online (country summaries updated daily)
• U.S. Consular Information Sheet - Malawi
• U.S. Consular Information Sheet - Mozambique
• U.S. Consular Information Sheet - Tanzania

10. Maps and Gazetteers of the Lake Malawi Region

• Maps locating any of >6000 Malawi towns and major geographic features at Falling Rain Genomics  
• List of Online Maps of Malawi at ReliefWeb
• Map of Malawi (192K, not much detail)
• Detailed Malawi administrative boundaries (regions, districts, etc.) at Africa Data Dissemination Service
• Malawi hydrology maps and data at Africa Data Dissemination Service
• Malawi topographic, geologic, city street, and travel maps for purchase at Omnimap.com
• Download 283kb zip file (gazetteer) of Malawi geographic place names and locations from GEOnet Names Server (GNS)  

• Maps locating any of 21,000 Mozambique towns and major geographic features at Falling Rain Genomics  
• List of Online Maps of Mozambique at ReliefWeb
• Administrative boundaries
• Mozambique topographic, geologic, and travel maps for purchase at Omnimap.com
• Download 2.12Mb zip file (gazetteer) of Mozambique geographic place names and locations from GEOnet Names Server (GNS)  

• Maps locating any of >9000 Tanzania towns and major geographic features at Falling Rain Genomics  
• List of Online Maps of Tanzania at ReliefWeb
• Administrative boundaries (more detailed)
• Tanzania topographic, geologic, thematic, and travel maps for purchase at Omnimap.com
• Download 518kb zip file (gazetteer) of Tanzania geographic place names and locations from GEOnet Names Server (GNS)  

11. Publishers & Dealers of Books & Other Materials on African Cichlids

• AddALL - "Search and compare among 40+ sites, 20,000 sellers, millions of books!"; displays cost comparison table including shipping; good coverage of both hobby and academic books
• Advanced Book Exchange (Abebooks) - "Peruse the bookshelves of thousands of used, secondhand, rare, and out-of-print booksellers around the world"
• American Cichlid Association On-line Store - Members and nonmembers, in USA or anywhere, can purchase books and posters at this secure site
• Aqualog Books
• Bibliofind - "Search for millions of hard-to-find titles from our trusted community of Bibliofind and Amazon.com booksellers"
• Bookase.com - "Compare textbook prices & save money" - but more than actual textbooks; lists over 225 Cichlid titles  
• BookFinder - "Over 30 million new, used, rare, and out of print books at your fingertips"
• Chambal.com - latest entry in the multivendor new/used book search category
• EasyBookSearch.com - another multivendor new/used book search engine, with price comparisons
• Cichlid News magazine
• Cichlid Press (Ad Konings)
• FetchBook.info - Compare prices of new & used books at >60 dealers; good coverage of both hobby and academic books
• ICHTHOS is The Society of Friends of the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity in Grahamstown, South Africa. The excellent, beautifully illustrated book by Skelton on the freshwater fishes of southern Africa now has its SECOND EDITION AVAILABLE. (The 1993 first edition of Skelton's book is the source of the superb color paintings of noncichlids on this Web site.) Inquiries about purchasing the new edition can be made by email directly to Ichthos.
• Natural History Book Service
• Steven Simpson Books - a British dealer of natural history books with many works on African fishes  
• Tetra Verlag GmbH - a major German publisher of aquarium fish books  
• T.F.H. Publications

12. Selected Dealers & Collectors of Rift Lake Cichlids   (no endorsement is intended)

 
   12 a) Dealers in the USA & Canada     International Dealers

• The aFISHionados (Winnipeg, Manitoba) —  
• Amazonia International (Austin, Texas) —
• AquariumFish.net (San Diego, California) —
• Armke's Rare Aquarium Fish (New Braunfels, Texas) — , W. Africa, & Madagascar; cichlids & catfish
• Atlantis Tropical Fish Hatchery (Gardiner, New York) — - also a few W. African spp.
• Bluechip Aquatics (Hamilton, Ohio) —
• Boester's Cichlids (Loves Park, Illinois) —
• Boilermaker's African Cichlids (Salt Lake City, Utah) —
• California Cichlids (Fresno, California) —
• Canadian Rift Lake Cichlid Associates - (Buying group, Guelph, Ontario) —
• The Cichlid Exchange (Portland, Oregon) —
• Cichlid Lovers Tropical Fish (Tucson, Arizona) —
• Cichlids 'R' Us (Rockland, Maine) —
• Cichlids Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) —  
• Daytona Aquarium (Daytona, Florida) —
• Dykemyster's Fish (Summerville, South Carolina) —
• Exotic Tropicals (San Antonio, Texas) —
• Fish2U.com (near Tampa, Florida) —
• Fish R Us (Houston, Texas) —
• Fountain's Aquarium (San Diego, California) —
• Hot Cichlids (Chatsworth, California) —
• Icthyos Enterprises (Chesterfield, Michigan) —
• Kerrigan's Aquatics (Pioneer, California) —
• Mainly Cichlids (Santa Clara, California) —
• Noreast Wet Pets (Vernon, Connecticut) —
• Old World Exotic Fish, Inc. (Miami, Florida) —
• Out of Africa (Bergen County, New Jersey) —
• Robert Stevens' Cichlids (Livonia, Michigan) —
• Strandell's (Algonquin, Illinois) —
• TNT African Cichlids (Montgomery County, Pennsylvania) —
• Tom's Tanganyikans (Long Island, New York) —
• Tropical Fish Atlanta (McDonough, Georgia) —
• Uncle Ned's Fish Factory (Millis, Massachusetts) —

• Africa
  
  • African Diving Ltd. (Cape Mpimbwe, L. Tanganika) — exporters of  
• Asia/Pacific
  
  • Julidochromis (Rod Pick in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) —
  • WetPetz.com (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) —
• Europe & British Isles
  
  • Belgium
    • Aqua Blue Zaire (Beveren, Belgium) — Imported wild
    • Les Aquariums de Châtelet (Châtelet, Belgium) —
  • British Isles
    • African Aquatic (Cannock, Staffordshire, England) —
    • Aquascape Fish Imports (Birmingham, England) — wholesale only; some African cichlids
    • Rift Lake Cichlids Edinburgh (Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland) —
  • Czech Republic
    • Petra-Aqua (Czech Republic) — Wholesale breeder
  • Denmark
    • Cichlide Centret (Bækkeskovvej, Denmark) —
    • MalawiCarsten (Klarup, Denmark) —
  • France
    • Abysse (Paris, France) —
  • Germany
    • Airfish (Wölfersheim/Södel, Germany) —
    • Barschkeller (Bielefeld, Germany) —  
    • Cichliden Centrum (Pulheim-Stommeln, Germany) —
    • CJ Aquarium Import-Export (Hüllhorst-Schnathorst, Germany) —
    • Uka Aquarienbau (Münster, Germany) —
  • Netherlands
    • Verduijn Cichlids (Zevenhuizen, Netherlands) —
  • Sweden
    • Akvarie Teknik (Filipstad, Sweden)
    • Aquarium Malawi AB (Örebro, Sweden) — Wholesale
    • Ciklidhuset (Sweden) —
    • Zoo-fritid (Lidköping, Sweden) —