The Central Americans...

This is a Parachromis Loisellei.  They resemble juvenile
Parachromis Dovii from Lake Arenal, Costa Rica.

Here is a pair of Parachromis Friedrichsthalii.  The male is below the female of the species.

Finally this is Amphilophus Trimaculatum.

I'm between aquariums right now for the first time in 26 years, I've always had a least one aquarium usually more than one. When I started out I was given an old 20 gallon tank with shiny chrome trim around the rim and slate bottom as well as the corners. Needless to say it weighed a ton empty and was a chuck of granite once full of gravel and water.  The beast was short lived as were my hopes of recreating nature on a small scale.  A day or two after I poured the gravel substrate and filled it with life giving water, I noticed the seam joining the glass and slate weeping and dripping onto the cloth I had laid underneath the enclosure.  With every drip the certainty that I would never have an aquarium all my own loomed near.  In my darkest hour a reprieve, a rope of hope thrown to my dream, salvation had laid its hands upon me, glory was within my grasp.  My benefactor, my parents saw what it meant to me and purchased a brand new 20 gallon All Glass Aquarium from now extirpated Noah's Ark Pet store.
 
        Ultimately I ended up with a 180 gallon (6' long) aquarium, a 120 gallon (4' long), a 58 gallon (really an all around great aquarium if you don't have a lot of space or just don't want to deal with a large aquarium.), a 45 gallon tank ( kind of a tall aquarium, better suited to fish that use the vertical water column, for example, Angel Fish or Crappie if you prefer native specimens.), Two 20 gallon aquariums (great all around aquarium doesn't take up much room, however, it has a nice rectangular foot print, great starter tank!), and finally numerous 10 gallon aquariums strewn about as needed. They were the work horse aquariums, seeing duty as hospital tanks, quarantine tanks, fry rearing and food, using them for the basis of homemade filters and filter sumps.

    I had some really neat setups in these aquariums, in my 180 gallon tank I set it up as a Central American cichlid community aquarium.  I collected together a spine of limestone boulders running the length of the six foot aquarium with a substrate of aggregate gravel, resembling perhaps a rocky outcropping in a Central American lake or stream.  I purchased juvenile Parachromis Frederichsthali, Parachromis Loiselli and Amphilophus Trimaculatum, the new tenants quickly took purchase within the limestone structure and immediately started to bulldoze the gravel surrounding the boulders.  Within the spine of milky rugged limestone boulders the juvenile Freddies, Loiselli and Trimacs created territories and of course engaged in the usual bickering over territory.  Territorial disputes ultimately ended in a show down of sorts.  At stake was the ownership rights of prime breeding habitat and the annexing of new territory through superior ferocity.  After the initial onslaught a relative calm spread throughout the landscape allowing for other activities to move to the forefront of piscine proclivities.

       Quick growth along with territories to defend from interlopers, created beastly specimens, both male and female.  As territory was defended, lost and gained, hierarchies as well as personalities were defined, much as the limestone itself was created in layers over time and under great pressure. Super specimens eventually populated the limestone reef.  Bright bumble bee yellows bathed in gold patches contrasted by coal black blotchy vertical bars in the case of the Freddies, patrolling their territories next to similarly cast Loiselli except more gold less bumble bee yellow with purple iridescence, these gaudy sentinels defend with teeth and fin against the last mega fauna populating the limestone reef, the Amphilophus Trimaculatum. With its olive green flanks, dark rose-red breast and three large spots midway to the back surrounded by iridescent green gold. An aggressive full bodied bull in a china shop.  The Trimacs held their own well against the hoards of Parachromis and created a nesting site underneath two boulders to rear their young.

      Soon my aquarium of brawlers and killers resembled a playground of undisciplined brats with stay at home moms and out of work dads, overly protective of their delinquent progeny and inclined to start a confrontation with the first slanted look that comes their way.  At first there was a shimmering mass huddled within the confines of each of the parents excavations.  As the days passed the huddled masses became a cloud of bounce and dart fry.  Over time the masses became smaller and smaller.  However, as their numbers shrunk the individuals increased in size with the different schools of fish scud running along the bottom trying to evade the many predatory eyes keen for an easy meal.  At about one inch the dozen or so remaining fry in each hatch was given away to another aquarist who had the room to grow out the little guys to adulthood.  There were many spawns to come over the next year and some of the more elusive youngsters managed to find places to hide from the piscivors primed to devour anything that resembled meat. One ingenious Trimac found his way through slits in an old under gravel filter that I no longer used.  An under gravel filter is made of plastic with grooves for gravel to sit in.  Slits are molded into these plastic panels to improve water flow thus increasing the available amount ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to the bacteria within the gravel of a healthy mature aquarium.  Ammonia and nitrates are detrimental to the successful husbandry of fishes and other aquatic animals.  Finally there is a riser tube anchored into back of the under gravel filter.  This is used in conjunction with an air pump or power head creating the all important water flow.  This spunky Trimac would swim up and down the riser tube in the back corner of the aquarium.  I tried a few times to capture him before he out grew his safe dwelling but as you may know these fish are quick and with little room to maneuver and a short distance for the little guy to take cover from me he was soon stuck.  Too big to renter above the gravel and would eventually be too big to operate in the under gravel filter.  A dire future for my intrepid charge.  I eventually had to tear out the under gravel filter to retrieve my spelunking friend.  At that point I gave all the Parachromis species and Trimacs away to an enthusiast I know who had 2000gal troughs in his basement as well as outdoors during warmer months.  They would now have much more room to grow to maximum size.  This is one example of many insightful and unique experiences with just this aquarium alone.  Not to mention the more than a dozen other aquariums with amazing stories to tell.