What Kind Of Fish Is This?

[chloelouise]

i saw him in a random shop. he was mesmerizing.
just wondering what its called so i can research it and maybe look at getting one

 

[Buddyboy67]

One for the rift lake guys here...one of the lake malawi rift lake cichlids,though unsure which...an aggressive group of fish,best kept in a rift lake set up and kept away from any community tank!!!

 

[chloelouise]

yeah he did seem quite aggressive. the place that he is sitting in the photo he was protecting. any other fish that went near that spot he was chase away, it was very entertaining to watch. i guess i wont be purchasing one of those for my community tank haha

 

[dthoffsett]

I'm pretty sure the one most in focus is a male Cynotilapia afra, one of the mbuna (rock-dwelling cichlid) from Lake Malawi, Africa.
From what I can tell it looks like he's in a mixed african tank, not the best to buy from as most of them are hybrids.

They reach around 3 inches, males are brightly colored while females tend to be brown/grey. They are one of the few omnivorous mbuna and as such can be kept successfully with any haps/peacocks that don't grow large enough to eat them. Like most mbuna, they should not be kept with non-old world cichlids. They require a minimum 4-ft (55gal) tank as they are pretty aggressive, and should be kept in a 1m/3f+ ratio.

 

[chloelouise]

thanks for the information!