A modern rarity, a rare update of a rarely seen rare cichla, a rare sight.

Although fish keeping is very individualized, just like everything else including the clothes we wear and accessories we use, is also influenced by the opinions of others. 

In my years of fish keeping, collecting, buying and selling over about 30 years now, I am finding fewer and fewer pure hobbyists that share the same enthusiasm as I do in finding a new fish.  Most people just follow others, and the "trend".  I just wish that in the near future I can find and explore the frontier and find something new.  With the invention of the internet and being in the import/export business, most desired fish have come and gone with ease, and a few harder to find ones eventually obtained.  I'm now on the quest to find the ones that people have not even heard of or seen! 

Here is one of the "trendy" fish, peacock bass, Cichla sp., which includes over a dozen of different species, which most we have kept in recent years, including the rare Cichla melaniae "Xingu".  There leaves only less than a handful that we have never seen in the hobby, its a race against time to see who will be the first to bring them in!

I now present to you Cichla sp. which has been absent from the hobby for over 7 years, and no records of any surviving adults in the US.  Some in Japan, but are no longer heard of, and there are a few in Europe at this time.