Range – Cichlids are the most species-rich non-Ostariophysan family in freshwaters freshwater fish that are most diverse in Africa and South America. It is estimated that there will be at least 1600 species in Africa alone when all are discovered and described. Substantial numbers are also found in Central America from Panama to the Mexican portion of North America, with approximately 120 species, as far north as the Rio Grande in southern Texas, and Madagascar has its own distinctive fauna of cichlids phylogenetically only distantly related to those on the African mainland. Endemic cichlids are largely absent in Asia except for four species in the Jordan Valley in the Middle East, one in Iran, and three in India and Sri Lanka. There are three species found in Cuba and Hispaniola. Europe, Australia, Antarctica and North America north of the Rio Grande River drainage, do not have any native cichlids, although where environmental conditions are suitable feral populations of cichlids have become established as exotics.

Habitat – Cichlids are largely freshwater fish and are less commonly found in brackish and salt water habitats, though many species will tolerate brackish water for extended periods; Cichlasoma urophthalmus, for example, is equally at home in freshwater marshes and mangrove swamps, and can be found living and breeding in salt water environments such as the mangrove belts around barrier islands. Several species of tilapias (species of Tilapia, Sarotherodon, and Oreochromis) are euryhaline and can disperse along some brackish coastlines between rivers. Only a few cichlids are found primarily in brackish or salt water, most notably Etroplus maculatus, Etroplus suratensis, and Sarotherodon melanotheron.

Freshwater Cichlids Map