A few recent shots of some of my African Cichlids from Lake Malawi. I shot these guys in manual with a Pentax A50mm/1.7 and shoe mounted Vivitar 3500 flash...

[maxwell1295]

More from the fishy file...

[hooppjs]

maxwell1295,
Your shots are really REALLY good. I keep South American cichlids, Texas, Oscars, convicts etc. Texas grew to 11 inches and is a violent bully, the Oscars grew to just over a foot and at night I hear some almighty bangs. They just smash up the tank and the convicts, well, all they ever do is have fish sex.
I love the cichlids and their little habits like mouth brooding and care of the young. A friend keeps the African cichlids, maybe I should have gone down that path. Pretty smart fish eh?

Thanks for posting such great shots.

Peter

PS - I added a couple of older shots of the fellas taken with a p/s kodak.

[Fritz]

African Cichlids have always been some of my favorites, so I really enjoyed seeing your pictures. I used to have them years ago. They are feisty little buggers.

[Heinrich Lohmann]

I wouldn't know one fish from the other but I do know that these are some very good photographs, thanks for posting them.

[k100d]

i thought flashes freaked out fish?
at least that's what i was told at the aquarium

[spyglass]

Wow! Very nice. So tell me your secret how did you manage to fire your flash through the glass tank with no evidence of reflection (polarizer filter, careful angle, do tell).

[daacon]

Great fish shots! Well done. I am like Heinrich as far as identifying them, but I have taken some aquarium shots and know how tricky that can be.

[maxwell1295]

I don't know how I missed this thread. Thanks for all the comments!

hooppjs - I used to keep SA cichlids, but much smaller than what you have (German Rams, Keyholes, Bolivian Rams). Nice looking fish you've got there!

Fritz - These guys are a great source of entertainment...it's literally non-stop! To say they're active and aggressive would be an understatement...

Heinrich - I checked out your webpage and your PPG page....21 pics??? I bow in the presence of greatness! BTW, my wife and I were looking at the pics in your family tree. Really interesting. BTW, she's from Germany too.

k100d, spyglass - I use am old Vivitar 3500 flash in manual mode. No polarizers or weird angles. The key is pointing the flash up and using a diffuser. Mine is a homemade DIY job made from some cheap foamies from the craft section in Walmart. It looks pretty much like the one found here:

DIY Reflector-Diffuser