Livingston's Cichlid

Geographic Origin and Biotope: Widely distributed in all the shallow and warm waters of Lake Malawi (and occasionally in the Malombe and Shire basins). Frequents coasts rich in thick Vallisneria or silty coastal sands where the light patches of its camouflage blend it with the play of shadows and debris of the African shallows.

Taxonomy and Morphology: One of the most colossal members of the predatory clique of the 'Haplochromini' (*Nimbochromis*, name derived from 'Nimbus' or stormy stain, cloudburst). Fish of a towering size of 25 cm (10 inches) for adult male sizes and immeasurable jaws like a river shark capable of dislocating opening a deadly ramp. A true colossus with a powerful body shape, elongated but stocky and laterally compacted.

Social Behavior: Reveals the most eccentric predatory technique in the world (So much so as to earn the native name "Kaligono" which means "The Sleeper"). To deceive the prey, it bends softly and lets itself sink like a dead body, resting placidly and motionless on one side on the ground among the sand. The broken spotted camouflage completes the optical illusion of a rotting fish washed ashore. The unfortunate and inexperienced small cichlids (often cared for fry or Mbuna explorers) rush to inspect or nibble hopefully for a gifted organic meal: once within range of the formidable wide open lips they vanish devoured by a lightning fraction of the aspiring and murderous bite of the revived Hap. Excluding this sadistic deadly stratagem, it is tolerant to gigantic peer-level conspecifics that it majestically ignores except under heat and impulses of territorial jealousy.

Coloration and Sexual Dimorphism: Breathtaking chromatic base due to the broken camouflage. Background parchment cream light silvery color asymmetrically broken by immense and erratic reddish brown spots very bright streaked dark or bitter chocolate (which as youngsters recall the ground of the round and muddy stones covered with detached algae and which draw the name Nimbus = cloud of spots). Miraculously the young males and females share for life and happily this crazy spotted white and black and mimetic chestnut camouflage pajamas, but the explosive Male Alpha changes course at dusk and at maturity: totally mutating it gradually becomes iridescent cloaking itself in BLUE/Turquoise or purplish Petrol Green nuances on the edges of the spots flexing or fading the black borders transforming into a mighty luminescent emerald with fins framed by soft reds to oranges and thick striations on the thrilling rump and intimidating yolk 'egg-spots' at the paraded anal fin.

Tank Setup: Demands the unbridgeable availability and unprecedented engineering capacities of an abundant 600 Liters (160 Gal) or more, exclusive tank lengths from 200 CM (80 inches) of base to eviscerate the imposing furious pelagic glides in sprint or relaxed at half column and facilitate the theatrical and formidable fake death ambush. Category of furnishing with a bottom of purest softest impalpable oceanic Sand of large covered gallons without stones for asphyxiating interlocking maneuvers. Insert mighty giant vallisneria on the obscured bottom and a few blunted rounded huge river boulders as a barrier and visual divider of the harems, dulling dangers on furious fights from fin breaking on sharp pungent quartz in clumsy fake falls or ruthless pursuit hunts against unadorned side glasses. Mandatory farewell for obvious voracity to submarine pebbles and woods that obstruct and hinder the beasts and to poorly rooted plants easy prey to the collapses of passage of the dinosaurs.

Feeding and Diet: Ruthless and implacable Piscivorous Macro-Predator lurking from the bottom. Despises the green diet spitting every farinaceous and demanding the massive investment in copious meals. The owner's burden is to rely on colossal half-centimeter flakes, sticks or huge fast-sinking bottom granules (which will fall attractive and tasty to the sand floor awakening voracity). Highly substantial foods to feed massive beasts: thaw freshwater rinsed silversides, mashed cuttlefish minced with huge decapitated waxworms or succulent scampi without lanceolate tails mixed with healthy live fry from breeding cull thrown copiously running away to thicken the instinctive natural predatory hunts and the dull vibrations and excitements of the whole lethal little group tearing apart in rapid schools in raw cannibal festive party. Pay attention to reckless parsimony and poorly absorbed malnutrition from the useless deadly red flaked flours of guppies enlarged liver without the raw freshness of basic aquatic protein for these monsters.

Water Quality: Hyper-orthodox Tanganyika/Malawi: very hard hardness from GH 15-25 exasperating alchemical non-negotiable and strongly basic and calcified and alkaline waters with the perennial rigid stall of the pH at 8.0 up to 8.8 (fatal an acidic push or drop in the level that would pale scale and with choked breath the Haplochromis intoxicated with lethal ascitic fungal lethargic piles and fatal sudden deadly constipations in clear dehydrated tank corners by chlorine). Oceanic recirculations in titanically powerful external waves spilling foaming that eliminate and cancel by powerful aerobic way the deadly urea dust of the several grams of torn shrimp remains disposed of for colossal dejections that would bacterially plague the organic pollution of the sand and mortifying the oxygen in closed prey cave without giant hourly breaking disposals in pumps and sump filters and sponges.

Compatibility and Cohabitation: Catastrophic inclusion model for tender associations of Amazonian fish: the apotheosis of the apex predator, immediate devouring death assured in a few seconds of darkness and a capacious jaw on everything that measures under or almost the modest twelve centimeters (5 inches) and in torpedo or fusiform shape swallowable without restraint in voracious pelagic gulps (farewell precious fry, carefree barbs, and poor shell-dwellers or exhausted slow incautious colored Mbuna at the bottom inspecting its apparent sleep turned into a deadly dive with crushing bites or fatal traps to the sharp and asphyxiating corydoras wedged in throat armed piercing for clumsy regurgitations panic of fatal suffocation of the intoxicated dominator with the injured esophagus mortally bleeding for the wrong ingested sharp fin. Idyll of polygonal harem association for only Great and stainless rock Haps giants or huge placid sand-dwellers and high-ranking rocky cliffs of the caliber of the titanic mighty Cyrtocara moorii, Tyrannochromis high-ranking and arrogant massive Buccochromis of extraordinary sizes peers of predatory intersection in giant placid calm cohabitations guarded at a distance fleeing the lethal aggressive impact but in shared majestic peace high stowed of diluted crowding of rare unique pieces of honor and great prestige).

Aquarium Reproduction: Formidable and lethal difficult species to manage ('Sand-Spawners' and bare sandstone spawning on low rock). The excited alpha male colossus ignites brilliantly purplish and ruthlessly rages to drive away chasing everything with bites exhausting and annihilating fish and little fish to obtain the virgin prairie in which to invite the turgid females sparkling with egg courting them frantically dancing in vibrating circular tremors of furious mating to inseminate the copious cloud of eggs. Incredibly heroic female prodigious mouthbrooder for over three exhausting weeks on total starvation strike and swollen and exhausted jaws of a monstrous dense dark army of a scarce hundred and more of voracious agile little fish gigantic fry ready hunters expelled and promptly recalled safely to the shadow goiter from the predatory dangers of others, and fiercely cared for if separated for safety from the paternal infanticide distracted cannibal of cyclical forced mating repressed vascular and post partum ravenous aggressiveness of massacres among imprudent ignorant novices without secondary safe refuge tanks of necessary glass barrier divisions post asphyxiating and burdensome precious spawnings to the isolated and hungry brood fed on powders and nauplii by the abundant buckets to ward off hunger among prevaricating giant twins among weak ricket clones exterminated by early and immediate cannibal competition.

Risks and Diseases: Lethality deriving from the irreversible vascular homicidal constipation of Tanganyika Bloat and dropsy: bacterial disease in lethal obstructing intestinal ascites or fatal at the first sign due to the wicked ignorance of cheap farinaceous herbivorous forage from dry green flake instead of the necessary protein base chitin of the whole crushable live crustacean necessary for the hard malacophagous gastric juices of this elegant monster and adipose livers macerated by heavy earthworms and avitaminosis in lethargic ammonia polluted waters without gigantic filters doubled in inert power or furious massacres mutilating with aggressive and frightening bites of asphyxiating terrors against glasses for blind panic collisions if the dens are not hidden for the young rejected by the furious dominant that annihilates very long lethal chases at the end of the run.