Cuban Cichlid

Geographic Origin and Biotope: Endemic to Cuba. Inhabits slow-flowing rivers, lakes, and does not disdain at all the brackish waters of estuaries and coastal mangrove lagoons.

Taxonomy and Morphology: Cuban Cichlid (Nandopsis tetracanthus). Large Central American cichlid (Guapote). Powerful profile, large head with extensible mouth of a formidable predator and robust scales.

Social Behavior: Highly aggressive and intolerant. It is a "guapote" (predatory cichlid) and will act as such, claiming large chunks of territory. Forms extremely tight but violent pair bonds.

Coloration and Sexual Dimorphism: Stunning "checkerboard" livery. Silvery or golden light background heavily spotted with high contrast raven black. Adult males sport a nuchal hump and extended fins. In breeding, the lower part becomes opaque raven black.

Aquarium Setup: Tank for beasts (minimum 150 cm / 60 inches). Requires huge rocks and heavy woods to delimit the territory. No plants (would dig them up). The substrate will be moved continuously, so avoid fragile or fertile bottoms.

Diet and Feeding: Opportunistic Piscivore/Omnivore. Will eat crabs, giant insects and fish. In the aquarium they devour large pellets for carnivores, shelled shrimp, earthworms. Do not overfeed to avoid obesity.

Water Quality: Extreme tolerance to salts. Requires hard and alkaline water (ph 7.5-8.5). The addition of sea salt is excellent if they show signs of stress. They soil enormously, oversized filtration is needed.

Compatibility and Tankmates: Impossible with community fish. Pair (in huge tanks) only with other armored Central American monsters (Jaguar Cichlid, Midas, large Plecostomus) or keep them in a single pair in a dedicated tank.

Aquarium Reproduction: Spawners on flat rocks. Pre-reproductive skirmishes look like attempted murders (brutal "Lip-locking"). They lay up to 1000 eggs; the pair will massacre anyone approaching within a meter of the nest.

Risks and Diseases: Lethal Divorce. The "close-knit" pair can suddenly break up. The male will turn on the female killing her in a few hours if there are no "target" fish (giant dither fish) to vent the aggression on, or if the tank is too narrow.