Waiving the Flag...

[StephenMidTN]

Hi All,

An inquiry on another website and a chance discovery at one of my LFS have got me wondering: what ever happened to the wonderful Dwarf Flag Cichlid (Laetacara curviceps)?

When I first began keeping fish (during the late Middle ages! ), these beautiful little jewels were often seen. (They were assigned to the genus Aequidens in those days.) Now I hardly ever see or hear of them at all. Even on AquaBid I never see them offered for sale. I tried a search on this board and came up with nothing either. (I searched for 'Flag' and for 'curviceps'.) A Google search turned up a little info about them, but most of it was quite dated.

Does anyone know what happened to cause Dwarf Flag Cichlids to become so rare in the hobby?

Thanks for all replies.

[tjudy]

They are still around, and being produced commercially on fish farms in large numbers. The reason they are not seen in stores very often in teh USA is that the most stores seem to have forgotten how to sell dwarf cichlids. Unfortunately, a stresed out L. curviceps is unlikely to sell themselves.

[StephenMidTN]

Thanks for the prompt reply, tjudy!

That makes sense. Very few LFS in my area even have Apistogramma species on a regular basis.
Do you think Dwarf Flags are more commonly available in LFS in other areas of the world? I lived in Europe for most of the '90s and don't recall seeing them there either. Maybe they are more readily available in Asian LFS?

Maybe things are changing though. The 'chance discovery' I referred to in my initial post was the recent arrival of a group of L. curviceps at the best LFS in my area. I had forgotten how wonderful they are. I am sooo tempted...

Thanks again.

[Tom Williams]

Still very popular in the UK with some particularly good specimens right now, L Dosigera does seem to be becoming more popular. Dwarfs seem to be having something of a rennaisance here.
tom

[StephenMidTN]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the reply. I'm happy to hear that L. curviceps and other Dwarf Cichlids are making a comeback in the UK. Hopefully that will happen here, too. I see plenty of Dwarfs offered on internet auction sites like AquaBib. I just never any curviceps on there, nor anything other than Kribs in the LFS.. Your mention of how fine the specimens of curviceps are now in the UK made me think again of the ones my LFS recently got. They are of exceptional quality.

I'm feeling the need to get a pair of two of them...

Thanks again!