After over two decades, Tangled Up In Cichlids closes its doors

This is a really sad day for anyone in the New World cichlid hobby. Jeff Rapps has been the leading provider of wild, unusual, and/or uncommon cichlids and tropical fish since the mid 90s. Almost all of the cool breeding stock I've obtained for the past 12 or so years has come from Jeff. He posted this announcement on his website today:

Quote:

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April 10, 2019

Please note: My site has not been hacked and this is not a eulogy :)

The twenty five years strong, uniquely branded business model that I entitled Tangled Up In Cichlids is closed for business. I am retiring from my position as founder-president/owner-operator of what has truly been a dream come true for me on many levels.

I am sorry that there was no pre notification or going out of business sale. I find that to be sad and devaluing for product to which I have worked so hard to assign value.

I have never been busier than of recent. Approximately one third of my daily order fulfilment consists of new customers. The interest and growth is unprecedented and I am forever grateful to each of you for these blessings and opportunities.

I want to extend a deeply felt, genuine thanks from the bottom of my heart to every single individual whom, over the last two and half decades, have enabled and fueled my ability to grow and succeed with this international E-commerce based small business model.

Tangled Up In Cichlids presence on the internet began in 1995, around the same time that Yahoo! was launched and years before Google was a thing.

As a trained aquatic biologist and small business owner, it has been my utmost pleasure to provide hobbyists and similar businesses the accessibility and hopefully educational components as well to generate past and continued interests in this niche market.

It is no secret that I have built a business marketing those species of fish which I have enjoyed collecting, breeding, and maintaining as a lifelong hobbyist. This premise for a business is not original. The fact that this is a profoundly vulnerable, high maintenance, labor-of-love-contrived profession is understood and I never took one single day of my customer-supported entrepreneurship for granted.

On that note, some of you may want to know if there will be a new owner or successor who may, using the existing or a similar business model, continue to provide my extensive customer base access to the many rare and often exclusively imported species that I have made available to you.

I am currently communicating with a fellow entrepreneur who is highly capable, extensively experienced, motivated, and knowledgeable. If and when this may result in a formal business transaction, I will be sure to send all contacts in my email this information.

If, upon reading this announcement, an individual or similar business with serious interest and resources has the desire to further inquire of this business opportunity, I will still be monitoring my email for some time and can properly address inquiries.

Once again, please accept my utmost gratitude for playing the ever active role of enabling my dreams to become a reality.


Jeff Rapps

Soon to be not so terribly Tangled Up In Cichlids


The purpose of life is to discover your gift.
The work of life is to develop it.
The meaning of life is to give your gift away.

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First John/snookn21, now Jeff. The trustworthy sources for good quality livestock are dwindling in the US. Jeff has provided the hobby with so many incredible species, and a wealth of knowledge about them. His presence will be sorely missed. The hobby owes him a deep gratitude for all his contributions over the years. I hope he enjoys his retirement.

I am gutted. I have bought all my cichlids from him the last couple of years because he offers such healthy wilds and great customer service. This is really a great loss to the hobby.
He will be missed.

We get no younger thats for sure. I too am sorry to hear this Ryan. Jeff definitely made the hobby better for many of us. Thanks for the post. I hope he enjoys his retirement and that he finds someone to take over the business in some form.

al

A very sad sad day :((
Jeff brought so much the fish keeping community