how to identify african cichlids and oscars..clearly?

Answer 1

Oscars are either albino (beige-like hue) or black with orangey red markings. Think of a world map. The orangey red markings are like islands and the sea is represented by its primary colour (black or albino). African cichlids tend to be more colourful or have a brighter hue at least. Most of them are also striped and have fancy markings on them. Oscars are simpler looking fish.

Answer 2

To identify African cichlids you would need to know a bit about them, and be familiar enough to recognise them. African cichlids are a group of cichlids that range from 1" to over 24" long and include an incredible array of colours, shapes, behaviors, and needs. They come with horizontal stripes or vertical stripes or solid or splotched, in grey, brown, yellow, blue, violet, red, black, gold, orange, or white or combinations. They might be laterally compressed or torpedo shaped, with long predatory mouths or stumpy algae grazing mouths, etc etc...

Oscars are Oscars - just look it up in a google image search. They come in various forms now, like the original Velvet Oscar (the one all the others were derived from), and the line bred albino, red, tiger, and more recently engineered long-fins. They share the same features otherwise.

Answer 3

You can see Oscars Picture and infor. here
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_oscar.php
African cichlid here
http://cichlidforums.com/

Answer 4

identification comes with practice, I suggest getting pictures of each fish or a book and memorize the pictures and names, take the pics to the pet shop with you for practice (it gets easier the more you do it. For good pics check out the aquarium livestock section of www.thatpetplace.com